


Halily’s War

by Ace1399



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 53,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27398191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ace1399/pseuds/Ace1399





	1. Chapter 1

Many Guardians met their final death on the day that the Cabal managed to capture the Traveler. Some fell in battle as they defended the City against the sudden and unexpected invasion. Others fell to the weapons of the other races as they were out on patrols or other missions. The most tragic were the accidental deaths that occurred in the Crucible or SRL; deaths that should not have been final, but for the unimaginable binding of the Traveler.

Ace was almost one of those latter. Emergency alarms went off across the system as soon as the Vanguard realized what was happening, but Guardians were reckless. A dangerous byproduct of their “immortality”. And so many of them assumed that the alarms were not important for anyone not actually in the City.

When the Cabal erected their barrier over the Traveler, cutting off the Light, every Guardian felt it. Every Guardian realized what had happened to them. They understood in that terrible moment what the Vanguard’s alarms were trying to warn them of. Unfortunately, the effect it had was staggering and bore terrible consequences.

On the Moon, a fireteam of Guardians had ignored the Vanguard’s alarm and pressed on with their assigned mission; assassinating a troublesome Fallen Baron. They had already infiltrated the Eliksni Ketch and were about to engage the formidable leader when the alert came through. They swiftly decided to continue their mission; they would kill the Baron and then return to aid the City. They had almost succeeded when the Travler was silenced. Stunned as they were by the sudden loss of their power, the Fallen commander cut all three of them down.

On Mercury, a pair of teams were holding a private skirmish in one of the Crucible’s many arenas. Shaxx had added his own commands to end the matches as soon as the alert went out, but he was unable to ensure that his orders were followed. The two teams were close to finishing their skirmish and the Guardians jokingly claimed that the order to end all matches only applied to the official, sanctioned ones. Glenneth, a wiry little Hunter, had just taken several shots from the enemy team and was bleeding out when the Traveler was silenced. She had summoned her ghost to effect a full revival when they felt their Light disappear. Glenneth quietly coughed twice, blood trickling from her mouth, before falling to the ground. Her friends collected her body and returned to their ships.

On Mars, a group of sparrow racers were completing their second lap. Bridge was in the middle of a dangerous turn when the Traveler was silenced. The shock of losing his Light caused the Titan to fumble his controls and he careened into a cliff wall. The impact caused a rupture in the sparrow’s fuel line and the resulting explosion instantly killed the Titan. Ace had already stopped his sparrow to try and figure out what was happening in the City when the incident happened in front of him. The Hunter  knew what had happened, but he still watched the wreckage with growing horror as Bridge’s ghost failed to materialize. The poor Guardian’s mangled body remained in the wreckage, un-revived.

“Ace,” Mal’s voice was weak, “Something terrible has happened. The Traveler.”

Ace turned to look behind him, to the stretch of Martian track and the handful of other sparrow racers. Each one of them were having the exact same conversation with their ghosts. One by one, each Guardian disappeared as they were transmatted back their ships. Bridge would never be revived again.

Similar incidents happened throughout the Sol system in those awful first moments of the Red War.

—————

It was many days after the invasion that Halily stepped up to the edge of the rooftop and looked down. A Cabal frigate had just passed overhead, escorted by a pair of smaller Threshers. The Titan ignored the enemy ships as she considered the empty space between the building she stood upon and the next. It was a full hundred fifty meters to the ground below.

She lowered herself to sit on the verge, letting her feet dangle in the empty space. Halily then reached up to unclasp her helmet, removing the armor so that she could breath fresh air. Setting the helm aside, the Titan then unholstered her hand canon. Tears fell unrestrained to wet the barrel and cylinder of the Crimil’s Dagger as she remembered the ones who had gifted it to her.

Her family.

Thinking of family, Halily held out her hand and willed her ghost to materialize. The Titan had outfitted her ghost with a spherical shell, decorated with a brilliant starburst pattern around the central eye. The ghost tilted the metallic frame slightly, inquiringly.

A quiet sob caught in Halily’s throat. “I’m so sorry, Kaci,” she began in a whisper, “I told you that you chose wrong before... I told you.”

Kaci didn’t respond except to float closer to the Titan. The ghost caught a tear before rising up to nuzzle the Guardian’s cheek. The act of tenderness only served to open the floodgates further. 

“You shouldn’t have chosen me,” Halily cried, “How many times did I ask you to stop reviving me? You chose wrong.”

Halily hugged the hand cannon to her chest and hunched over, the sobs growing strong enough to choke any words forming in her throat. Kaci merely floated to the side and allowed the Guardian to grieve. The Titan could feel her ghost’s gaze fall upon her, but didn’t sense any judgement. Kaci was always nothing but completely supportive. 

After several minutes of body-wracking convulsions, Halily was finally able to bring herself under control. Once the sobs became sniffles, the Titan looked up to her companion. She tried to smile, “I’m sorry, Kaci. I’m not the Guardian you wanted me to be. I’m not able to be the Guardian you thought I could be.”

“You have never disappointed me,” Kaci quietly replied, “I know I chose correctly.”

“How?” Halily snapped, her voice catching as a fresh sob threatened to break, “How can you say that when they are all dead because of me?”

Kaci performed an equivalent of a shrug with its shell. The ghost answered, “You don’t give yourself enough credit. They saved you bec-”

“They shouldn’t have!” Halily shouted. She quickly stood up, the toes of her boots dangerously out over the edge, and looked the ghost in the eye, “They should have saved themselves just like you shouldn’t have ever revived me!”

Kaci looked down, contrite.

Halily closed her eyes as she continued, “Paris... Garick...”

The Titan began raising the Crimil’s Dagger when a hand gently clasped her wrist. A voice behind her stated softly, yet clearly, “Don’t.”

Halily turned about in surprise. The hand grasped more firmly and pulled forcefully as the Titan’s sudden movement caused her to lose her balance. She fell toward the rooftop, away from the empty space behind her. A second hand, belonging to an Exo Hunter, reached out to catch her shoulder and steadied the Titan.

“Please, don’t,” the Hunter repeated. 

She looked into the Exo’s face. His eyes glowed with a faint blue light from within a mostly white, metallic face. A smear of black coloring crossed the Exo’s face from his left eye to his right jaw, giving it a touch of distinctiveness. Somehow, despite the lack of expressiveness that the non-organic Exominds suffered from, his eyes appeared to be tired. Halily sensed a soul that she could relate with.

“Don’t what?” the Titan answered.

The Exo let go of her arm and took a step back. He turned and invited her with a gesture to step yet further away from the edge of the roof. “We both know,” the Hunter answered. 

Halily couldn’t tell if he was afraid to say it out loud, worried that speaking the words would cause her to turn back. Or if he was embarrassed for her and uncomfortable putting the situation into words. The Titan had to admit that she felt extremely uncomfortable now that he was here. She was having a hard time finding words to offer to this Hunter. 

The Titan took a couple steps away from the verge.

Nodding, the Exo took a step with her and commented, “My name is Ace.”

“Halily,” she replied, “What brought you up here?”

Ace didn’t answer. Instead, he kept walking over to the doorway that opened from the stairwell onto the rooftop and sat down. He gestured for her to join him and finally replied, “Nice to meet you, Halily.” As she slid down to rest her back against the wall that housed the door’s frame, Ace quietly asked, “What brought  _ you _ up here?”

“The Traveler,” Halily answered.

“I’ve never been able to coax any answers out of that thing. I can’t imagine that we are going to get anything out of the Traveler now that the Cabal have it trapped in that container.”

“That’s why,” the Titan suddenly exclaimed. She found herself staring down at her hand cannon once again, “Now is my chance for peace. That’s the only thing left for me now... now that...”

Ace politely ignored the quiet sob that she choked down. He looked up to the Traveler and the massive Cabal machine that ensnared it in a glowing net of orange light. “How many times have you died,” he whispered. It was so quiet that she could barely hear him, she sensed that the question was rhetorical; meant for himself. Ace turned to the Titan and spoke up, “Sounds like someone was taken from you. Someone special?”

“My family,” she nodded. A fresh tear stained her cheek. Halily was surprised that she had any tears left now.

“What was their name?” Ace misunderstood. He thought she had lost a mate or a close friend.

“Paris. Garick. Brodie. Espie. Hastyr-8,” she listed the names, “My family. All of them.”

“I see,” Ace replied quietly. Halily sensed understanding dawning within the Exo. “You have lost it all.”

She could only nod in response.

“Was it them?” the Hunter pointed to a Cabal frigate that lazily crossed the sky, high overhead. He didn’t mean the occupants of that warship in particular, she knew.

“Yes,” she spat.

“I would like to know more, if you want to tell, but I don’t think this is a good time,” Ace replied. The Hunter stood up and walked over to retrieve Halily’s helmet. As he handed it back to her, the Exo stated, “We have been noticed and soldiers are on the way.”

Halily buckled the armor about her head while Ace undid a strap that had held his own helmet at his belt. Before donning the helm, the Hunter looked her in the eyes and asked, “Would you like to tell me about it? And would you like my help getting some revenge?”

The Titan blinked. She sputtered for a moment. Who was this strange Hunter to so casually ask such things? Finally, she was able to form an intelligible response, “Yes and very much.”

“Okay,” Ace replied, opening the rooftop door to the stairwell, “Just be careful about that last one. Revenge takes us to places we would not normally tread.”

“Sounds like something Zavala would say.”

“Indeed,” the Hunter answered.


	2. Chapter 2

As she followed Ace down, Halily was suddenly struck with a sense of puzzlement. Why had she agreed to this Hunter’s crazy suggestion? It was a suicide mission. Why not just cut out the middleman and go back up to the rooftop?

Then her hand brushed against the grip of her beloved Crimil’s Dagger. It had been a gift from Paris and was her most treasured possession. Halily realized that she did desperately want revenge for the death of her family. She closed her eyes for a brief moment as she fought back the flood of memories that threatened to rush over her. It was a suicide mission, but she would gladly die trying to avenge them and that would finally give her life some meaning.

But what about the peace she so desperately sought? She was walking away from the chance to never have to fight again. To stop feeling all of the pain that came with existence as a Guardian, both physical and mental. Even before she lost her loved ones to the Cabal, she had been exhausted. The Titan had ceased asking Kaci to stop reviving her once she had been “adopted” by Paris and Garick’s team. But the idea never fully disappeared. It would creep back into her mind at rare occasions, filling her with guilt for having such thoughts.

But her family had rescued her, undeserving as she was, from the terrible loneliness that plagued her existence. They had worked with her to help the Titan improve as a warrior and not become such a liability in battle. There were even several times when she had felt like she was pulling her own weight with them. It would be fitting if their killer was brought to justice.

But there was no Praxic Order to hunt down a particular Cabal invader. She could not leave this to a proper “authority” to do the work. This was entirely up to her.

And once her work was done, she will have likely died in the attempt. Or she could return here.

—————

Ace pondered the audacity of his suggestion as he led the Awoken down the stairs. He was grateful for his robotic, Exomind body as he would have been sweating bullets during the entire exchange. He could feel his hands shaking with nervous anxiety as his body created a facsimile adrenaline reaction to the stress he was feeling. The seemingly off handed offer to help hunt down whatever Cabal had killed this Guardian’s friends was a panic maneuver.

How had he managed to make such a suggestion so casually? The entire exchange had felt surreal and the Hunter still had no idea how he had managed to sound so calm and collected. All he wanted was to get the Titan away from the ledge.

Ace glanced over his shoulder at the Awoken, taking another look at the woman, recalling the details that lay under the smooth curves of her Devastation Complex helmet. Her Awoken eyes glowed with a white light from her bluish skin. A tiny pair of lighter patches at the corner of those eyes served to accentuate their almond shape. However, the detail he recalled best was the woman’s hair.

She must have been an interesting individual before the Collapse, before her first death, as her hair was a dark violet. But it showed no signs of treatment; it was a permanent color change that survived both her transition to Awoken and Rebirth. Before she died, she had to have undergone genetic engineering to change her hair. Ace noted that, minus a few damaged areas, her armor’s plating had been coated with a patina that almost matched the purple of her hair.

Ace chuckled silently to himself, realizing that his musings about this Guardian’s previous life may be hypocritical. After all, when he was still alive, his own previous being had undergone the process to transfer his consciousness from an organic body to this robotic frame. What did that say about the kind of individual he had once been before being Reborn?

The Hunter decided to break the silence with a quiet question, “What brought you here? I know why you came, but why this building in particular?”

His words were not much louder than their footsteps, but they managed to seem much louder after the last couple minutes of quiet. Halily considered her response before answering, “This is where Garick and Paris lived. This is where we would meet before most of our missions.”

Ace nodded as they passed a doorway that would open to one of the building’s floors. His own apartment was similarly situated in one such building, but located in a much less affluent area. The Exo estimated that the cost to live in this particular place was likely two or three times what he paid.

“There were six of you?” Ace commented, “You guys must have been been assigned some really dangerous missions to need a large crew.”

Ace could hear her armor shift as she shrugged. The heavy Devastation Complex Armor sat well on her and she carried it with the ease of experience.

“Yeah, they were pretty dangerous for someone like me. But not for them,” Halily answered.

The Exo frowned at that comment, unsure of how to respond. Fortunately, they had reached the final landing and the door that would deliver the duo to the building’s lobby. They would need to save the discussion for later. Ace reached over his shoulder and grabbed his scout rifle, a Nameless Midnight that he had been field testing before the invasion began. Putting a finger to the chin area of his helmet, the Hunter tapped the Titan’s holstered hand cannon with the barrel of his rifle.

Halily understood the gesture and drew her gun. With a nod, Ace turned back to the door and eased it open. The door slowly swung open silently, revealing an empty lobby. Ace quickly moved forward, toward the building’s entryway. The Hunter hugged the wall as he went, his darkened armor blending with the shadows. Halily followed close behind, the darker shading of her gear also doing a fair job of blending in. Ace was very pleased that this Guardian was not one of the types who wore garish and brightly decorated armor.

As they got close to the front, Ace could see movement in the street. A small patrol had been dispatched to investigate the Guardian presence. The Hunter mentally calculated the distance from their position to the Wall while cursing the Cabal energy field that prevented them from being able to simply transmat away. If they could make it to the Wall, Mal could connect with their ship and be able to activate the transmat.

It wasn’t far. If they could cross the street to the alleyway the ran between the buildings there, there was a very good chance that they could lose any pursuers that would give chase. And then they should be able to reach the Wall before reinforcements could arrive to cut them off.

Using his cloak to mask the movement, Ace summoned Mal and whispered, “We are going to use the alleyway over there. I need you to plot a course so that we don’t make a wrong move.”

Mal nodded. A moment later, a waypoint indicator appeared in his helmet display.

Halily leaned forward and quietly asked, “Are we going to wait for them to leave?”

“No,” Ace shook his head, “They know we are in the area. We can’t transmat from this far in and they know it. If that group doesn’t find us, they’ll summon more troops.”

“We’re going to fight our way through?” Fear edged the Titan’s tone.

“Just enough to cross the street,” Ace explained, “Without the Light, we won’t survive a longer battle. Eliminate anything in your way and push for that alley as fast as possible.”

The pair of Guardians looked back through the large front window, at the group of Cabal milling about in the street. There was a handful in view, slightly spread out. Ace estimated that there were as many on each other side of the city block.

“Here we go!” Ace announced as he stood up and rushed for the door. He could hear Halily close behind as he used his whole body to burst through the door.

The surprise was apparent in the Legionaries’ reactions. This group was not used to their quarry breaking from their hiding spot in such a dramatic fashion. Despite their surprise, though, these were Cabal and they always had their weapons at the ready. Ace managed to eliminate the closest soldier with a handful of swift, well place shots. As he ran, the Hunter turned to address the next closest Legionary, but found the armored soldier collapsing to the ground with a strangling gargle sound. Halily had managed to destroy the integrity of the Cabal’s helmet with two precise shots, suffocating it.

Noting that the Titan had slowed down in order to make the shots, Ace hollered, “Keep moving!”

Halily nodded, but remained paused long enough to fire once more. Ace saw a third Cabal drop to his knees; not dying, but still clutching at a breach in its helmet. That soldier was out of the fight. The Hunter spun about to level his rifle at the remaining two soldiers. Heavy slugs from the Legionaries’ rifles tore into the ground near his feet and cut through the air mere inches from his body. Ace decided to prioritize speed over eliminating these two; he could likely get one of them, but the other would then take him out.

Halily was close behind as he passed through the alleyway threshold. Slug rifle rounds struck the wall inches from where they passed. Ace could hear the grunting cries from the rest of the patrol group rushing to provide support. He put them out of his thoughts as the two Guardians focused on following Mal’s plotted course.

Three sharp turns brought the pair to another open street. Ace didn’t pause and merely continued running as quickly as his legs could carry him. The street crossings were the most dangerous as they were the points where the patrol’s Thresher would be able to spot them. Their key to success was avoiding being spotted by that ship. 

As they made their way through the second string of connected alleys, Ace kept an eye on the sky above. He could hear the Thresher moving about as the Cabal attempted to predict where the Guardians were running to. Before they reached a second street crossing, the Hunter detected the sound of a second ship enter the airspace. 

“Hold on,” Ace whispered as he held up a hand. Halily stopped short, following his instruction. The Hunter waited for a few seconds as he listened intently. When he felt confident that both Threshers were moving away from their position, Ace led the Titan into the road.

Into direct view of a second Cabal patrol group at the end of the street. 

“Damn it!” Ace hissed. He was tempted to attack, but knew that he couldn’t risk it. They were outnumbered and without Light. The two of them would be cut down before they could eliminate the entire patrol.

Fortunately, only a couple of the Legionaries were looking in the correct direction to spot the fleeing Guardians. Ace took a glancing blow that grazed his cuirass before entering the alley. Halily made the crossing unscathed.

“Mal, we need a reroute,” Ace called out as they continued to run.

A moment later, the waypoint changed. The pair of Guardians immediately adjusted. The Hunter hoped with all his strength that Mal’s new route would sufficiently confound their pursuers and wouldn’t be predictable. The sound of the Threshers remained directly overhead as the Hunter and Titan raced along the passageway. They were no longer pushing toward the Wall, but were instead taking a parallel route.

It was when Ace noticed that the sound of the Cabal ship’s engines seemed to no longer be directly overhead that Mal’s route had them turn back toward the Wall. They were able to cross the next lane without incident. And again when they passed through the subsequent alley.

Noticing Halily’s heavy breathing, Ace called for a pause. His inorganic body may facsimile shortness of breath and other signs of physical exhaustion, but the Exo could honestly push beyond such things. Halily’s Awoken body required more consideration now that she didn’t have the Light. Ace needed her at full capacity in the next few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

They had taken a couple of turns in the space between buildings when Ace signaled to stop. Relief flooded through Halily as she leaned against a wall for support. Her legs ached as her lungs burned in protest. She was not unfamiliar with protracted physical exertion, but they had been sprinting at top speed for several minutes. The Titan would have been fine running at a jog for hours, but this mad dash was almost too much.

Halily’s breathing managed to normalize not long after they stopped. She glanced over to the Hunter to see him standing normally, head tilted as he listened for the sounds of their pursuers. The damned Exo showed no signs of exhaustion as he could probably continue on at the same breakneck pace without needing to take a break. As usual, it was Halily that was holding them back.

Guilt ate away at the edges of her thoughts as she was grateful that the Hunter was considerate enough to call for a break. However, she would have pressed on, forcing herself to maintain whatever pace he set, without complaint.

A moment later, when Ace began moving again, it was at a brisk walk. The Hunter quietly commented, “We are getting close to the Wall now. Our next crossing shouldn’t pose a problem, but we can not afford to be spotted. I need us to move as quickly as possible when we make our move. Understand?”

Halily nodded before replying “I’m rea-“

“No,” Ace interrupted, “Take a minute. I need you at one hundred percent.”

Halily nodded again. Guilt again warred with relief within the Titan. This Hunter was putting himself in harm’s way in order for her to keep up.

Ace continued, “It’s the next crossing that we need to really worry about. If we can get across here without incident, then we will have the advantage and we’ll have a good chance of reaching the Wall.” The Hunter then summoned his ghost and addressed the tiny machine, “Mal, how far away are we from the package?”

The ghost answered, “We are pretty far north. Original route would have had us on target. Your new route will require you two to move South after this crossing.”

Ace nodded and glanced back to Halily one more time. She felt significantly better after the short break from sprinting. “I’m good.”

From close behind, the Titan waited as the Hunter scanned the sky above and then peaked around the corner to check for the presence of Cabal troop on the ground. Apparently satisfied, Ace announced, “Let’s go. Quick!”

Halily had learned swiftly how to follow instructions. She responded to direction with action almost immediately, without thinking. As she followed on the heels of Ace into the street, she noted that it did seem empty. She could barely make out the shapes of Cabal troops further south. The Guardians were too far away to be spotted.

As they entered the alleyway, Halily could hear the rumble of an approaching Thresher. “Around this corner and then hug the wall,” Ace commanded.

She did as told, remaining motionless as the bottom of the Cabal gunship slowly passed overhead. As soon as the ship was out of sight, Ace immediately began moving, following his ghost’s waypoints that led them south. He moved carefully, yet swiftly. The Hunter checked sight lines every time they crossed a passageway that opened onto a street. Twice he had them wait for a Legionary to move on or look away before he allowed them to continue.

Several minutes later, the two Guardians had finally reached the final waypoint. The Hunter stated, “There are a few troops between us and the opening in the Wall.”

Halily took a deep breath and gripped her hand cannon tightly. She had managed to drop those two troopers earlier, maybe she could be so lucky again and continue carrying her own weight. But her stomach dropped when the Hunter’s ghost announced, “There are a dozen Legionaries and a pair of Phalanxes guarding the opening.”

Fourteen? How were they going to bring down fourteen armed and armored Cabal? And before either of those nearby patrolling gunships could join the fight?

“You would think that they would plug up this hole,” Mal commented.

“They have, but we keep destroying it,” Ace quietly chuckled as he reached into a small pouch hanging from his belt at his back, “They’ve realized that plugging this hole is a waste of time.”

“It’s a shame. There may not even be guards posted here if we had left the hole plugged,” Mal observed.

“After this stunt, we are going to need to find a new hole anyway. It’ll never be so lightly guarded ever again.” With that declaration, Ace lifted his hand. Clutched in his fist was a detonator that the Hunter promptly activated.

An explosion sounded from a block away. Halily was startled by the suddenness of it and, despite seeing the detonator, feared that the Thresher had began firing upon them.

“Very good!” Ace whispered excitedly, “Most are running off to investigate.” The Hunter looked to Halily and asked, “Can you take care of a pair of Legionaries while I deal with the Phalanxes?”

As he spoke, the Hunter swapped his scout rifle for a fancy-looking shotgun. He expected them to eliminate their opponents from up close. The Titan did her best to suppress the shaking in her hands as she checked her weapon’s cylinder, quickly replacing the spent rounds with fresh ammo, before setting it back in place.

Halily looked up from her hand cannon and nodded.

—————

Ace was pleased to see her so confident. If it had been a handful of Legionaries, he wouldn’t really worry. With them so distracted by the small explosive charge that he had detonated, they could have easily dispatched a handful of the low-level troopers. But Phalanx had the nasty tendency of actually using those damn shields that they carried about.

“Go.”

He moved as swiftly as possible while remaining as quiet as he could. The Titan was clever as she understood without him stating that they needed to get close before attacking. She also understood the need for stealth leading up to the attack.

The Hunter fired first. He wasn’t as close as he wanted to be, but he feared that a Legionary was about to spot him. The blast staggered the target as buckshot tore into the soldier’s armor. Ace kept running as he readied a fresh shell, getting into a more optimal range. Before the Phalanx could bring its shield into the correct defensive position, the Hunter fired again. This time, the blast knocked Cabal trooper backward a couple steps.

Ace saw the Phalanx’s partner move forward to help shield his fellow, but the Hunter was quicker. He was only a couple meters away when he pulled the trigger a third time. The wounded trooper’s helmet shattered and dark oil erupted from the pressurized suit.

The second shield-bearer stopped moving forward and, instead, brought his shield into position. Ace didn’t stop moving. He kept charging toward the towering shield, even as slug rifle rounds began cutting through the air toward him. The Hunter darted from left to right, managing to avoid each shot. As he closed it to within a couple meters, Ace suddenly dropped to the ground in a sideways slide.

From his position on the ground, the Hunter fired at the trooper’s exposed foot. The Cabal grunted in pain and his hold on the massive shield faltered as the Phalanx dropped to a knee. Ace rolled to his feet even as he ejected the spent shell and loaded a fresh one from the shotgun’s ammo tube. He quickly fired as soon as the receiver closed, before the trooper could recover. This blast caught the Cabal in the chest and tore away a significant portion of the chest plate. The trooper dropped the shield in shock. Ace fired a third shell into the Cabal’s helmet at almost point blank range.

Even as he squeezed the trigger, Ace looked away from the Phalanx to check on the Legionaries. He had put a lot of faith in Halily by focusing solely on his own targets. But it appeared that his trust was well placed. Both of the Cabal soldiers lay on the ground. One had a shattered helmet and the other was riddled with bullet holes. It appeared that Halily had disarmed the Legionary with a pair of shots to the arm and then finished it off with a rapid fire series of shots to the chest. The Titan was already heading to the small, Guardian-sized hole in the Wall.

Ace hurried to catch up, only a few steps behind. “Keep going!” he shouted, making sure that she didn’t pause to check on him. It was still over a couple dozen meters to go before they would reach the Wall. They were not safe until they had reached beyond the limits of the Cabal interference field and transmatted away.

The ground shook as a nearby explosion announced the presence of an incoming gunship. Halily had already ducked into the Wall’s fissure when the Thresher thundered overhead. A second blast from the main cannon caused the street immediately behind the Hunter to erupt. Ace accepted the force throwing him forward, diving with it into a tumble. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs, but his lack of such organics allowed the Exo to recover instantly.

He dove into the opening before a third shot could be fired. Halily had moved further into the Wall’s substructure, waiting for Ace to join her. The Hunter rushed to join her. “The interference field ends close by. Get close to the outer wall and we can transmat away. Do you have a ship in orbit?”

Halily nodded, “Yeah.”

“Good,” Ace replied as they walked hurriedly away from the opening, “I have room, but it would be a little cramped.”

The braying of Cabal war beasts echoed through the space, bouncing off the steel girders and plates. The Hunter allowed a smile to cross his face as he turned around to see the first beast scramble through the hole. “Sorry, puppies,” he quipped, “but we don’t have time to play today.”

Ace and Halily dematerialized with bright blue flashes of light.


	4. Chapter 4

Finding herself in the cockpit of her ship, Halily finally allowed herself to breath a tremendous sigh of relief. She had been so certain that the Legionary was about to kill her when she managed to strike its arm. Fear had taken hold and she simply emptied her magazine, desperate to kill the brute before it could shoot her. Even now, her hands were shaking from anxiety and adrenaline.

A flashing light on her ship’s console drew the Titan’s attention. As she unbuckled her helmet with one hand, she flipped the toggle with another. The Exo’s voice filled her cockpit.

“I’m sending over coordinates,” Ace began, “I want you to wait a couple minutes and then transmat down to here. I’ll warn the guys so you don’t have to deal with any nonsense.”

Ace ended the transmission and Halily leaned back into her seat. When she went into the City, she had not prepared for any exit. The Hunter had done a decent job of leading them out of there. If they hadn’t been on that rooftop and gotten spotted, there would have only been that final patrol to deal with. His exit strategy was effective.

Still, their ability to dispatch a handful of soldiers did not mean that they would be able to kill the one responsible for the death of her family. A Bracus would be a much more formidable target than a pair of lowly troopers. Still, she wanted to try. She knew that her friends deserved justice. But would her death be justice?

Perhaps her death would be another kind of justice. A lesser one, but not less just. They were dead because of her. Halily knew she was just as responsible as the Bracus that had given the order.

This Hunter seemed fairly capable, though. Perhaps he had a plan that would help them do the impossible. She allowed a tiny flower of hope begin to grow within the weeds of doubt.

Kaci unfolded in air above the console. “Ace says that it is time to go down,” the ghost stated quietly.

Halily reached out and tapped out a command on the console, setting the autopilot to orbit over the transmat coordinates. After hitting execute, she retrieved her helmet and replied, “Let’s go.”

A few moments later, the Titan found herself in the mouth of a cave. The smell of pine trees and dank earth greeted her nostrils, a mixture of the forest at her back mingling with the wet rocks of the cave. The sound of running water, a nearby stream, filled the opening with resounding echoes and a fine mist. Ace stood further in from the entrance, near a recess that led further in.

“Over here,” Ace called out in greeting. “We’re heading down this way.”

The Hunter turned about and began walking down the awaiting tunnel. Halily followed. As she neared the further end of of the cave, the Titan noticed the remains of Fallen communication and security equipment. They all appeared to be in various states of dismantle and salvage.

Halily trailed Ace as he led her down a series of twists and turns before the tunnel opened to a large cavern. Ace waited for her to the side of the archway while there were a handful other Guardians moving about in the area. As she passed the threshold, Ace reached out to activate a switch on the wall. Halily heard the faint hum of electronics coming to life in the tunnel behind her. 

“Let me introduce you to a couple fellows,” Ace commented with a gesture toward the center of the room. A trio of Guardians, Warlock, Titan, and Hunter, sat around a small table. Each one held a data tablet in hand, occasionally looking up to share a comment with the others.

Halily followed Ace down a short flight of stairs to the lower level and up to the table. The Warlock, a Human male, noticed their approach first and set down his tablet. As he stood up, drawing the attention of the other two at the table, the Warlock smiled, “Welcome back, Ace.”

“Thanks. Guys, this is Halily,” Ace waved his arm with a flourish. She couldn’t decide if she should curtesy or bow or salute. Before she could decide, Ace continued, “This is Mike,” he pointed to the Titan, “Samus,” the Hunter, “and Nutbar”.

“Daniel,” the Warlock interrupted.

Ace nodded concession, “Yeah, but we all call him Nutbar. Long story. Last time I tried to call him by his ‘real name’, it took him forever to realize it.”

Samus set his tablet down and walked around the table. The Hunter, a Human male, extended a hand. Halily accepted it with a shake as Samus commented, “Nice to meet you. Ignore Nutbar and Ace.”

Mike, an Exo, merely looked up from his seat and offered a smile, “Yes, nice to meet you. Where did Ace pick you up from?”

“The City,” Halily answered.

Samus looked sharply at Ace, “You went in? Alone?”

With an exaggerated sigh, Ace reached under his cloak to his pack. After a moment of fishing, he pulled out a module. “Nutbar said he needed this to get the salvaged communication equipment to work properly.”

The Warlock accepted the module with a shake of his head. “You are insane to go into the City like that,” Nutbar sighed, “but I’m glad to have this. It’ll be good be able to connect with more than just the Farm.”

Mike leaned forward and commented, “I’m sure we’ll have plenty to discuss later. For now, thank you for the module.”

“How about you find your friend an empty bedchamber,” Samus suggested, “She must be tired. I cannot imagine that you two had an easy time getting out.”

Ace grinned as he replied, “Good idea. Come on, Halily. Let’s go get some rest.”

Halily followed Ace as he strode past the table toward the far end of the cavern. Samus called after them, “After you get her settled, come back so we can get a debrief on your excursion.”

Ace’s shoulders sagged visibly at that parting comment, but the Hunter continued at the same pace. Halily hurried to catch up.

—————

“Seriously. What is it with you and revenge missions?”

Ace rolled his eyes at Samus’s question. He understood that the other Hunter was upset and struggled to find the words to explain himself. Ace had given the three a full accounting of his trip in and out of the City.

“I would be a hypocrite if I went after my revenge only to turn around and deny others,” Ace finally answered.

“You  _ suggested _ it to her!” Mike countered.

Ace shrugged, “I was out of ideas.”

“And so your default was ‘revenge mission’?” Samus shook his head.

Nutbar leaned back in his chair calmly. The Warlock cocked his head to one side and asked, “Why did you go into the City?”

Ace sighed with exasperation, “You needed a communications module to be able to make the thingy do the thing with the frequencies.”

Nutbar rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we can now encrypt and decrypt transmissions, but that wasn’t an absolute necessity. Going after this module was beyond reckless.”

Ace did not respond. He had known that his trip was dangerous. But he embarked on it with such a cavalier attitude that almost scared him. If he hadn’t come across Halily, Ace honestly didn’t know if he would have been as careful during his departure.

With a sigh, Nutbar stood up. “I’m going to go install this,” he stated before leaving with the module in hand.

Mike waited for the Warlock to walk away before commenting, “It sounds like your new Titan friend is in a bad place right now. Should you be taking her out into the field?”

Ace shook his head. Not out of denial, but out of inability to think of an alternative.

Samus leaned forward and quietly asked, “Do you really think this is what she needs?”

“I don’t know,” Ace admitted, “I just wanted to get her to step away and follow me down from there. I needed to give her a reason.”

“So. Revenge mission,” Samus snorted.

Ace began, “When I hunted down Deo’s killer-”

“No,” Mike cut him off, “You knew that Wizard was a bigger threat. You were driven by more than  _ just _ revenge when you killed that thing.”

“These invaders are a threat,” Ace snapped, “They are hunting down and killing anyone and everyone that is still trapped in the City. Killing the Cabal will be a service to our survival.”

“You could do that with any Cabal,” Mike responded dryly, “You don’t need to hunt any particular one to help the City.”

“Guys,” Samus interrupted, “We’re getting off the subject. The fact is that you have made a dangerous suggestion to that poor woman and it sounds like you intend to actually see it through.”

“I do,” Ace answered, “We’ve done plenty of intel gathering for Hawthorn and everyone else at the Farm. You have enough scouts to handle any more requests that they may send our way, Sammie.”

“That’s not the issue here,” Samus replied heatedly, “The problem is that it’s a suicide mission. We lose Guardians to the Cabal every day. We don’t need you intentionally throwing your life away on something like this.”

Ace absently rubbed the back of his head as he stated, “Then she’s going to go back into the City. Maybe not right away, but she will.”

Samus settled back into his chair with a sigh, “I really can’t stop you from going. I’m not Zavala.”

Mike jumped in, “Is there even a Vanguard any more?”

With a tired shake of his head, Samus answered, “I don’t know. Rumor is that Zavala is returning to Earth and setting up in the Farm.”

Ace spoke up, “Then it’s good we have that module now.”

Samus cut the Hunter off with a stern glare, “The ends don’t justify the means. I want you to please remember that when you’re out there on this insane mission.”

Ace gave his Exomind equivalent of a smirk, “We may just pull it off, you know. She’s a good shot and if I can get us the element of surprise...”

Mike snorted, “Don’t hold your breath on that last one.”

Ace stood up. “Then wish us luck, yeah?”

The Hunter cast an off-handed wave as he strode away from the table. Samus was absolutely correct in his assessment of anyone’s ability to order Ace to not undertake this task. In the aftermath of the fall of the Tower, many pockets of resistance to the Cabal were established. Many, like this particular group, managed to link up and network with Suraya Hawthorn at the Farm. Her group was the most successful at evacuating civilians and making strategic counter strikes against the Cabal.

The higher success rate gave Hawthorn’s group an unspoken degree of seniority over everyone else. Those groups who linked up and worked with the Farm had a feeling of legitimacy as they networked to become more efficient and effective. Also, the Farm was the hub for it all as most communication went through them. The Guardians in this cave could receive most basic transmissions, but any communication in return had to be delivered in person. Ace’s gift to Nutbar would help this team become more active.

In spite of all this, no one felt at all comfortable trying to give commands to anyone else or claim to be a de facto leader. Besides, Ace would have ignored any attempt to order him to stand down.

Samus had tried to instruct Ace to stay out of the City and now Nutbar had a communications encryption module froma substation console. Samus had tried to tell Ace not to embark on any solo missions and the Hunter had simply wandered off without notifying anyone in their group. Ace was aware that his behavior frustrated his fellows, but he couldn’t find the words to express his thoughts. He simply needed to get out and do something every day or else he would go mad.

As the Hunter strolled past Nutbar’s work console, he casually slid the Warlock’s data tablet under his cloak. Nutbar wouldn’t need the device any time soon as he would be engrossed with making the Fallen communication equipment accept the encryption module. 


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as he passed into the tunnel that would take him to the Quarters chamber, Ace pulled out the data tablet. He swiftly began accessing the assembled data that they had gathered on the various Cabal commanders. He had participated in many of the scouting and Cabal network infiltration missions that resulted in the information that was currently catalogued. The Hunter smiled as several entries bore headers that he had personally provided.

Quickly striding to the small door that provided a modicum of privacy in the cramped cave structure, Ace entered his assigned chamber. The rocky alcove was barely large enough for the mattress they had stuffed into the room. All of the bedchambers were tiny, likely designed to house the Dregs that the Guardians had chased out of the space. As Ace slipped through the doorway, Mal materialized over the bed.

“Ace,” the ghost began, “this isn’t what she needs.”

Unslinging the rifle at his back and setting it against the wall, the Hunter heaved a heavy sigh, “I know it isn’t. But it’s all that I can offer her.”

Mal moved to hover directly in front of Ace, its single eye in direct line with the Hunter’s, “And then what about when we finish this?  _ If  _ we can even finish it?”

Ace looked down and answered quietly, “We might die. Would that be so bad?”

“You’re not making any sense. Who will protect the people of the City if you die out there?”

Ace lowered himself onto the mattress and laid back before replying, “I’m tired, Mal. So very tired. How many times have I died?”

“You only have this one life now, Ace,” Mal answered, misunderstanding the question, “You cannot die any more. Your next death will be your last, so long as the Traveler is under the Cabal’s control.  _ That _ is what you should be focusing on.”

Shaking his head at the ghost’s insistence, Ace suggested, “Maybe taking down the Cabal responsible for her team’s death will be the catalyst for their fall.”

Mal gave an electronic “snort” before replying, “Now you’re just grasping at straws. Which only serves to show how crazy this is. Why are going to do this?”

Ace set down the data tablet and finally looked back up to his ghost, “I honestly don’t know, Mal. We don’t have anything official on our docket and I’ll go crazy if I don’t  _ do _ something. Might as well be this.”

“Why don’t you take a break and  wait for a mission assignment? There is a rumor that Zavala is returning from Titan.”

Ace closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn’t want to admit that he had a terrible need to help that Titan. Not getting revenge, but I’m not going through the terrible act she was about to commit. He could still hear her quiet voice with clarity in his mind.

_ “How many times did I ask you to stop reviving me?” _

It struck a chord. Something that Ace could never bring himself to admit. He admired Halily for her ability to speak so candidly about her struggle. Guardians were supposed to be fearless protectors of the City, steadfast defenders against the horrors that sought to snuff out the last remnants of Humanity. Ace did not feel steadfast.

The Exo had considered another path after his business with the Hive Wizard, Dôl Arnách. His meeting with Xander Lychol, a Lightbearer Cryptarch, had given Ace the idea that there was the possibility of being something other that a warrior. But panic would always well up from within whenever he entertained the thought of giving up the Wild. Ace could also remember his ghost’s words, describing him to the Vanguard, from his first days after being reborn.

_“Claustrophobia and restlessness are his key identifiers.”_

He simply couldn’t fathom the idea of a life spent within the walls of a building. The “punishment” levied against him and the Kais, two weeks of being grounded and unable to participate in any Vanguard-sanctioned activities, was actually a thinly veiled vacation. However, the two weeks had been close to too much time for the Hunter. Shaxx had taken pity on Ace and allowed him to enter the Crucible matches that were held locally.

Ace was simply incapable of giving up his life as a Guardian. He had spent many long hours of his second life pondering whether this was an intended side effect of being Reborn in the Light. Did Mal  make him this way? Or was it an intrinsic trait that Mal had been looking for? Despite the existence of Xander, a Guardian who had chosen the quiet and peaceful path of the Cryptarchy, it was possible that Xander was simply better capable of suppressing his “need” for conflict. Or was there an intellectual challenge to be found in the work he had undertaken?

“Ace,” Mal called out gently, “you’re doing it again.”

Shaking his head once again, the Hunter put the mental exercise away. He returned his attention to the data table and resumed reviewing the data, making sure that he had the most recent intel updates. Ace knew that Mal had pulled him from his thoughts to discuss the Vanguard, but he wasn’t interested in rumors. Zavala’s return to Earth wouldn’t solve the problem of Halily wanting to give up.

“Ace. Did you hear what I said about Commander Zavala?”

“Of course I did,” Ace snapped, “Even if it’s true, what does it change? Did he find a super weapon on Titan? Last we heard, Zavala was telling everyone that it was a big mistake to try and rally there. We were halfway across the system when we had to turn around and come back.”

Mal’s shell twitched slightly as the ghost replied, “He must be coming back for a reason.”

“I’m sure there is. And I honestly trust it’s a good one. But we don’t need the Commander to point us at a target,” Ace held up the data tablet, “I have a whole list of targets right here.”

Mal relented and folded away. Ace continued to review the data.

—————

Halily closed the hatch after the Hunter left her. He had instructed her to get some rest and, while she surely could use it, the Titan was unable to collapse into sleep. Her thoughts were too much of a chaotic jumble that refused to be ignored. The cacophony inside her mind was unrelenting and needed to be quelled.

Primary amongst it all was the sense of disbelief that she was here. She had been swept up in the mad rush to escape the City and didn’t have a chance to process anything that had happened since they left the building. She had blindly followed Ace from one point to the next. Until she was suddenly presented with this little chamber with a mattress, a pillow, and a couple thin blankets. Then the Hunter had walked away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

How had she ended up  _ here? _

She didn’t want to think about it. She knew exactly how events had unfolded to bring her to this little room, all alone now. When she closed her eyes, the images of her family’s deaths played through her mind. Halily immediately opened them and bolted upright.

“There are many things a ghost can fix,” Kaci said quietly from her position in the corner of the chamber, “But the most important things we need to fix, we can’t. I’m so sorry, Halily.”

The Awoken smiled up at her ghost. The little thing was trying so hard to be the pillar of support that she needed. She sniffed, “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

Kaci bobbed a little before replying, “It’s okay. I understand. It’s only been a few days since we lost them. You haven’t had a chance to grieve.”

Halily nodded. Every moment leading up to her encounter with Ace had been about survival. It wasn’t until she found herself standing on that rooftop that she had the luxury of tears. She had time now.

But the tears wouldn’t come. Halily allowed a bitter smile to thin her lips as she briefly considered the irony of it. Then she looked back up to her faithful ghost, “Do you think we can do it?”

“I think you can do anything,” Kaci swiftly answered. The Titan could feel the conviction in her ghost’s voice, “You were chosen because you are so much stronger than you realize.”

“That’s what Paris always said,” Halily murmured.

“Paris was right. That’s why she always said it.”

“I want to do this, but I don’t want to drag another Guardian down with me,” the Titan finally admitted.

Kaci gave a slight spin of its shell to indicate that it was listening.

“I know I was already standing on a ledge when that Hunter found me, so it seems silly to say this, but I don’t think I can handle causing another Guardian’s death.”

“Ace seems nice,” Kaci commented.

“All the more reason,” Halily replied, “He’s a capable Guardian, even without the Light, and he was kind enough to offer to help me. I can’t do this.”

Halily stood up and took a step toward the door. “Stop,” Kaci called out softly, “I don’t know if hunting a Cabal Commander is the right thing to do, but it got you to step away from that ledge. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

She looked from the door to her ghost. Halily wanted to leave. To return to the City. But she also wanted to see what possibilities tomorrow would bring. The Awoken nodded and returned to the mattress. When she closed her eyes, the tears finally came.

She awoke a few hours later. Her sleep had been fitful and broken, her subconscious replaying the tragedy in her dreams. Halily’s mind was still exhausted, but at least her body felt like it had energy once more. As she sat up, Kaci materialized in the air before her. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Halily inquired, “What time is it?”

“It’s still very early,” the ghost answered, “Only a few Guardians are awake right now.”

Halily chewed on her lower lip, unsure of what to do. Her stomach suddenly made its presence known. She had managed to ignore her body’s physical needs for the last couple of days, but now that she had finally allowed herself to rest, her body demanded that other needs be met.

“There is a small cafeteria at the far end of the quarters chamber,” Kaci offered.

Halily rose to her feet and opened the door. Kaci bobbed through the air in front of her, leading the way. She followed her ghost past a score of doors to a small antechamber. It held a handful of small tables and chairs. At the far end, a shelf had been set up and held a selection of packaged food rations. MREs likely salvaged from a storehouse or a downed transport. The Warlock Ace had introduced yesterday was sitting at a table near the middle of the area. He looked up and offered a slight wave before motioning for her to join him.

Halily hurried to snatch a package from the shelf before moving to sit at the table. The Warlock greeted her as she settled into the chair, “Good morning. You’re up early. Halily, right?”

She nodded before replying, “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep well. You’re Daniel?”

The Warlock shook his head and waved away the name, “Nutbar. I’ve given up trying to go by that name. Only the Speaker and the Commander bother with it now.” He took a bite of the nutrient bar in his hand and chuckled as he munched, “I used to hate these things. I was rezzed in a warehouse full of them; ate them for weeks until I was rescued by a patrol. It’s why I have the nickname. But when the chips are down, you do what you have to do.”

Halily tore open her package and started fishing out the contents; a handful of other, smaller packages. She selected the “main course” portion and opened that. As the Titan stirred the insides with the plastic spoon she found, she commented, “So, your ghost didn’t name you? Daniel sounds like a pre-Collapse name.”

Nutbar swallowed before responding, “Yeah, I had an employee ID tag on me when Griz found me.” Nutbar then shrugged, dismissing the whole thing, “I know lots of Guardians would love to know who they were before, but what’s the point? It doesn’t have any bearing on who we are now.”

Halily nodded at that. She, too, had spent a fair amount of time wondering who she had once been before putting the exercise behind her.

Nutbar allowed her to eat a couple bites before continuing, “The past is a tricky thing, though. There are some things that become a big part of our past that refuse to let go. Things that can twist us in dangerous ways if we aren’t careful.”

Looking down into her package of food, Halily was unable to bring herself to look up. She didn’t know if she was feeling embarrassed or nervous. Embarrassed if this Guardian knew what she had been about to do or nervous that she would give away too much if she responded.

After a moment, Nutbar broke the silence, “Ace isn’t the only one of us to have dabbled in revenge. I won’t lie and say it isn’t satisfying, but it is dangerous. Be careful if you intend to pursue it.”

Halily did look up at that comment. “You guys won’t stop him? Stop us?” she asked.

The Warlock laughed quietly for a moment before answering, “We all know that trying to stop Ace is pointless. Even Zavala was unable to keep him from hunting down a nasty Hive that killed his friend.”

“Do you think we have a chance?”

“Don’t let your desire cause you to make stupid decisions, and you have a good shot.” Nutbar then stood up, crumbling the wrapper into a ball. He looked down to Halily and commented, “When Ace wakes up, let him know that he can just leave my tablet at my desk. He doesn’t need to try and be sneaky about returning it to some place where it’d make me think that I had left it there. I never fall for it.”


	6. Chapter 6

“There’s a coffee station tucked into that back corner,” Ace stated quietly, setting a steaming cup on the table in front of Halily. Nutbar had left only a couple minutes earlier and she had made slow progress on her breakfast. The first few bites had gone down quickly, but she swiftly lost momentum as the melancholy returned.

The Hunter slid into the same chair that the Warlock had vacated. He sat back with a relaxed air, holding a cup of his own. Halily picked up the coffee that Ace left for her and took a careful sip. The beverage was still hot, but the taste was beyond welcome. She hadn’t drank anything other than water in the last four days. The Titan closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation of warmth spreading out from her stomach while the smell of the drink roused the rest of her.

“It’s not great stuff, but it gets the job done,” Ace commented before taking a swallow from his own cup.

“No, it’s great,” Halily smiled.

Ace laughed, “A muddy puddle will taste like ambrosia to a dehydrated man.”

The Titan opened her eyes and then raised an eyebrow at the Hunter, “Hastyr never drank coffee with us. Would always say that he didn’t want to waste it since caffeine doesn’t work on Exos.”

Ace gave a slight nod and admitted, “Your friend is right. Although, there is also the psychosomatic effect to consider; we Exos are not immune to that. But the simple truth is that we cannot actually benefit from things like caffeine. However, we still have our sense of taste and I have known  _ many _ Exos who enjoy a morning cup of coffee just as much as you organics.”

Halily smiled again, “Well then, to your health.”

Ace returned the toast before admitting, “This is just water. I can’t stand the taste of coffee.”

“Why did you let me think that-”

“It was a nice conversation and I didn’t want to feel left out. You coffee drinkers always make the rest of us feel like outcasts in the morning with your ‘coffee talk’ and whatnot,” Ace winked, “It was nice to feel included.”

Halily shook her head before taking another careful swallow. She could feel the psychosomatic effect taking place. Soon, the actual caffeine would kick in. The half eaten main of her MRE caught the Titan’s attention. Gesturing to the collection of smaller pouches on the table, Halily offered, “You want anything? I’m not going to eat much more.”

“I’ll take the crackers,” Ace answered.

As she handed him the appropriate pouch, the Titan asked, “What is the plan for today?”

The Hunter considered his response before replying. She could see from the way that the shielding over his optics narrowed, Ace was choosing his words carefully.

“We will need to identify the Cabal that we are going to hunt down. I don’t suppose you have a name?”

Halily shook her head.

“Bummer,” Ace stated. He paused a moment before continuing, “I don’t want to make you discuss something painful, but I’m going to need info.”

She took a deep breath before nodding. The Titan had known this was coming and had been mentally preparing herself for the eventuality. Halily had no doubt that she would be able to describe everything in great detail. She took a bracing swallow of coffee before beginning.

“We had set out to sabotage a group of Threshers. It was the whole squad,” Halily paused before reverently listing off the names, “Garick, Paris, Hastyr, Espie, and Brodie.”

She paused again, emotion slightly catching in her throat. The Exo merely sat back and patiently took a sip of his water. She followed cue and took a sip of her own. The warmth eased the stress away somewhat.

“Paris took Brodie to scout the area and everything looked good. Devrim had obtained refueling schedules for a Thresher group that was responsible for escorting supply crafts. Particularly the ground-based transports.”

Ace sat forward a little at that detail. He remained silent, though, so Halily continued, “Espie showed us all how to upload a corrupt Cabal nav control program to a secondary control console. Have you ever been on a Thresher?”

The Exo shook his head as he answered, “I haven’t had the pleasure. I’ve spent a little time on Mars, around the Meridian Bay. None near any of their space ports or fuel depots. I usually get to cover or tail it out of there once Cabal pilots start bringing in their aircraft.”

Halily allowed a small smile to crack at the Hunter’s joking tone. She and her fellows normally did the same thing. Hastyr and Garick would sometimes try to use heavy ordnance to bring one down, before the invasion. The smile disappeared as she went on, “Turns out that the ships are designed exactly like you’d expect of the Cabal; simple and straightforward. Main controls are in the cockpit, but there is a set of secondary controls in the cargo area. Three of us had modules that we could jack into the secondary console to upload the files.”

Her voice went monotone as she began to stare blankly into the dark coffee held in her hands. The words poured out of their own volition now, “Six aircraft. We split into three teams. I was with Garick. Everything seemed fine as the Cabal commander was letting the automatons handle the resupply and the troops were watching the wrong direction. We came from the lake. Slipped into the cargo area as the machines loaded fresh ammunition.”

The Awoken stopped for a moment as she mechanically took a quick drink. As she lowered the cup, she could see the scene as she spoke the words, “The first upload went fine. It was when I connected to the second ship that things went crazy. As soon as I plugged in, the hatch closed and the engines fired up. I was so confused, but I focused on initiating the upload. It wasn’t until I heard the others shouting into the comm that I realized something was horribly wrong.”

Ace didn’t respond. She sensed intense focus from him, but also great patience. Halily forced herself to take a moment to collect her thoughts before she continued, “We were supposed to maintain silence, but when the ships lifted off, everyone began to panic. All of us were trapped in different ships. I tried to reach the cockpit, but the hatch was sealed. I was about to try to blast it open when Garick grabbed me. He used a pair of grenades to blast a hole in the side. The explosion must have damaged an engine or the bad software kicked in because the ship began to pitch. Garick threw me out of the hole just before he fell further in. I could feel the shockwave of the ships’ explosions just before I hit the water.”

Ace leaned forward and whispered, “You’re lucky to have made it to shore.”

Halily shook her head and closed her eyes. Emotion returned to her voice as she replied, “I shouldn’t have. I made a mistake when connecting to the console and alerted the Cabal. They activated the self destruct and killed my family.”

Cocking his head slightly to one side, Ace waited a moment before asking, “What did you do wrong?”

“I don’t know. I was so careful. I am always so careful.”

“I doubt you made any mistake, Halily. Your team wouldn’t have given you such an important task if you were the type to make stupid mistakes,” Ace chuckled a little bit as he added, “There’s a reason why Samus and the rest refuse to let me navigate. I keep switching left and right when I have to speak them out loud.”

Halily continued to stare into her coffee. She was surprised that she wasn’t awash in a torrent of tears right now. This was the first time she had spoken about the death of her family.

The Titan finally looked up when the Hunter eventually stated, “I know who we are hunting.”

—————

Ace felt a slight sense of satisfaction at getting the troubled Awoken woman to smile. Her face lit up in a way that almost startled him. He sensed a great shyness in her; from the way that she tended to look down and try to diminish her profile, to the way that she normally spoke in a quieter voice. The way that her entire demeanor changed in that moment brought a smile to him as well.

And then, a couple moments later, he was able to make her laugh with his admission about the coffee. Again, it was like a whole new person sitting before him. The Exo wondered if there was whole other persona hidden beneath that initial layer of shyness. Had he been granted a glimpse at the _ true _Halily? The one that her team had known?

The Hunter put those thoughts aside with a sense of regret. His next words would see that smile disappear for long time. “I don’t want to make you discuss something painful, but I’m going to need info.”

He was right. The Awoken’s face closed up as she seemed to shrink into herself. Ace wanted to apologize for saying it, but he needed to know where to start looking if they were going to hunt down the Cabal. He swallowed the words with a hidden sigh and let the Titan speak.

He tried to hide his excitement when she mentioned that her team was hunting a supply escort group. There were only a couple such groups operating in the area and only one that maintained a resupply airfield situated by a large body of water. Ace could have ended the conversation then and there, but Halily was pouring out the words. He realized that the kindest thing to do would be to simply allow her to speak. The Exo absently ate a couple crackers as he listened intently to her story. Now that he knew what he needed, Ace could focus on listening to the Titan for the sake of listening.

As she finished, and more emotion seemingly returned to her voice, the Hunter noticed a slight change. Her shoulders seemed to sag just little less than before. She had seemed to talk to her cup of coffee more than to him, as if she was afraid to look into someone else’s eyes as she relived those terrible moments, but she also appeared slightly less burdened than when he first sat down.

Ace had hoped to see her smile again when he declared that he knew who they would be hunting. He worried that the smile would not be one of delight, but of malicious desire. Instead, he was met with stunned shock.

Disbelief tinged Halily’s voice as she asked, “Are you sure?”

Ace was a little surprised that her first question wasn’t  _ who _ the target was. He needed a moment before he could respond, “Very sure. There is definitely more than one escort group out there, but there’s only one who uses an airfield that you described. Most of the groups operate out of the carrier that Thumos landed. The ‘Vectura’ or something. I’m pretty sure it has a much more impressive name, but I can’t be bothered to look it up,” Ace gestured to the data pad.

Halily nodded along. It was obvious that she was familiar either with the massive Cabal carrier ship, or at least the area around it. Many Guardians had attempted smaller strike attacks and skirmished with the troops stationed at the base there. Ace had even heard rumors of a couple assassination attempts against Thumos himself. He snorted at the ridiculousness of such a thing. To attack Thumos  on the Orobas Vectura was insanity. They would never succeed without power from the Traveler. 

Outside of his ship, however, that would be a different prospect. Perhaps if the two of them could cause a big enough disruption with their excursion?

Ace shook the thought from his mind and continued, “I know of three independent resupply airfields, all radiating out from Thumos’s carrier. Only one that was built next to a lake.”

Finally, Halily asked the question he had been expecting. “Who are we going after?”

“Bracus Gelahn,” Ace stated as he leaned forward. He grabbed the large bag that had held the smaller MRE components and moved it to the middle of the table. Then he placed three of the smaller sacks around it, forming an equilateral triangle. “The big one is Thumos’s carrier and the base that he built next to it. These are the resupply fields that I mentioned. They’re all about eighty kilometers away from the Vectura.”

The Exo’s hand drifted to the small pile of crackers. Selecting a pair, he set the first cracker next to one of the smaller pouches and the second cracker in an empty space on the opposite side of the large bag. The Hunter then picked up a couple more and promptly tossed them into his mouth. His taste receptors reveled in the salty flavor.

After he finished, Ace pointed to the lone cracker, “This is our current location. We’re a little more than fifty kilometers from the carrier. Bracus Gelahn’s base is that one. The cracker is the lake.”

Halily arched an eyebrow at the exaggerated tone Ace used for his last comment. It wasn’t the smile he was hoping to elicit, but he would take it.

“When do we start?” she asked.


	7. Chapter 7

Halily watched the Hunter lean back, away from the diagram of packages between them. She could see his eyes drift up to one side as he considered before answering, “Well, we are going to start right away, of course. But we can’t charge right for him. We’re going to need more information.”

The Titan considered the arrangement of bags and snacks. She had been to the area around the Orubas Vectura several times. Her team had engaged in distraction attacks on Cabal patrols, but they had never approached the gigantic carrier itself.

“Since your attack, the Cabal have changed up their schedules,” Ace continued, “I know that you feel very differently, but your team’s sabotage mission was successful. They lost six ships.”

She was surprised to feel a slight sense of grim satisfaction at the Hunter’s words. It didn’t change the sense of loss that she felt, but it did help her feel like less of a failure. She looked up to meet the Exo’s eyes and asked, “Are you sure?”

Ace met her gaze and replied, “Yes. You guys attacked less than a week ago, didn’t you?” Halily nodded and the Hunter continued, “A couple scouts in the area saw the explosions, but didn’t know the cause. They suspected a Fallen attack since the pirates have been getting much more bold in the wake of the Cabal invasion.”

The Awoken nodded her head slightly in agreement. She had been called upon to defend against almost as many Eliksni attacks as Cabal.

Ace lifted the data pad as he explained, “They found Fallen scavenging the remains of the destroyed Threshers even as the Cabal were trying to drive them away. The scouts just assumed that the Fallen were responsible, given how quick they were to move in and salvage.”

“So where are we headed?” the Titan responded.

Ace pointed to the package that indicated the southernmost air field. Halily allowed a slight sense of relief that he didn’t indicate the carrier. The Exo explained, “We don’t want to be anywhere near Gelahn’s ships right now. That place is a kicked hornet’s nest. The depot here is operated by another Bracus that won’t be as agitated. Plus, if we get spotted, it’ll look like a sabotage attempt at a different airfield.”

“It will only be the two of you,” a voice called out. Both Halily and Ace turned to see Samus stride into the little cafeteria. The Human Hunter continued, “Please try to not get spotted as we can’t offer any kind of assistance to you.”

Ace gestured to an empty chair, an invitation for the other Hunter to join them. “That’s why we are going to be really quiet. We’ll take Sparrows to avoid transmat signals from being detected and move on foot when we get close enough,” he explained.

Samus sat down before responding, “Solid idea. Are you going to hangar your ships? We’ve lost a few in orbit, despite auto evasion systems and our ghosts trying to monitor things remotely.”

“To say nothing of the ships that were actually  _in_ the Tower hanger during the invasion,” Ace muttered.

“Exactly. We don’t exactly have a Guardian fleet these days,” Samus stated.

Halily thought about her own jump ship. She had been off-world with the others during the invasion. Garick had a ship being tuned up during the invasion. Dead Orbit’s shipwrights weren’t as good as Amanda Holliday’s crew, but they were much more affordable. Despite the lack of affiliation, Dead Orbit accepted Glimmer for their services. Garrick’s beloved Tidal Dawn had been buried in the rubble of one of the many Cabal bombardments. In fact, the invaders had made a point of targeting all of the airfields in the City. Ghoul apparently wanted as few Guardians as possible to be able to escape.

As she understood it, the Cabal had been exceedingly successful in that regard. Guardians had swarmed together at many key defensive positions throughout the City and formed bulwarks upon which the tide of Cabal broke. And then the Traveler was bound by Ghaul’s harness.

Wards of Dawn disappeared with stunned Titans caught surprised. Nova bombs blinked out of existence before Warlocks could decimate their foes. Golden Guns refused to respond their Hunters’ call. Ghosts fell silent and Guardians could not be revived.

Halily roused herself from her wandering train of thought with a slight shake of her head. She realized that she had missed part of Ace’s comment to Samus.

“-need to make a quick escape. Having our ships in the air for potential emergency transmat takes all priority.”

Samus nodded, “You’re right. No sense making this crazy stunt of yours even more risky.” Samus paused for a few moments before he spoke again, “Thanks to the upgrade to our communications, Nutbar was able to confirm a rumor. Zavala is coming back to Earth.”

Halily sat upright. She felt a twinge of hope as she thought about what the Commander’s return could imply. Ace didn’t seem affected in the slightest by the news.

The Hunter snorted and looked up at the stone ceiling overhead. “So?” he asked simply.

“So?” Samus repeated, “So? It means that we will once again have Vanguard leadership to help us drive back the Cabal.”

Ace returned his gaze to meet Samus’s as he replied, “What Vanguard? Samus,  we are the Vanguard. And we have lost the Light. The thing that  _ makes us Guardians _ has been taken from us. There is no Vanguard any more.”

Halily felt the hope sink. The Exo was right. Without their power, there were no Guardians any longer. And without Guardians, there could be no Vanguard.

Samus refused to give up hope, “Ace. Listen. There has to be a reason for him to come back.”

“Has he managed to regain his Light?” Ace countered, “Last time I checked, and I was standing directly below the thing just yesterday, the Traveler is still tethered by the Cabal.” Samus opened his mouth to respond, but Ace continued, “I agree that there has to be a good reason for Zavala to come back. I trust the Commander just as much as you. But I also can’t see what difference him  _being here_ will make.”

Ace stood up and gestured to his Exomind body before stating, “I’m a weapon. And I just want a target to be pointed at. We skirmish with the Cabal every day out there. So why not go after this one in particular and get some justice for the five souls that he took away from us?”

Samus’s voice grew quiet and hard as he answered, “You know that you are more than that to us. That’s why no one wants to see you lost out there.”

Halily noticed Ace’s stance soften at that. The Exo’s voice matched his changed demeanor, “I know. But I can’t force myself to sit around and wait. Besides, any commander that we can bring down will only serve to help the ultimate cause. It’s high time that we do more than just be a nuisance to their supply lines and picking away at lone patrols that venture too far from their base. We need to start cutting at the strings that form the support network. Samus, this could be the first real domino in the chain.”

Samus glanced from Ace to Halily. She could feel his eyes searching her face, assessing her. During Ace’s speech, the Titan had felt a different kind of hope take root within. If they were to take down a Bracus, it would absolutely create a significant interruption in Cabal operations in the area. It would be an opportunity that everyone else could possibly capitalize on. Halily straightened her shoulders and met the Human Hunter’s gaze.

She wanted the chance to both seek justice and play a part in such an operation.

Samus leaned back and looked back to Ace. “We already established last night that there is no point trying to stop you. I guess I just wanted to remind you that you are valued here. And you, Halily. I know what you’ve lost and we would love to welcome you to our operation here.” Samus paused to take a deep breath before smiling, “You two be very careful. I want you both to return to us. I’ll make sure that we capitalize in some way on your success. Happy hunting.”

As Samus rose from his seat, Ace reached out and the two Hunters clasped hands. The Human walked over to the coffee station while the Exo returned to his seat.

Ace waited for Samus to leave before commenting, “He means it. You are welcome here. If you decide you don’t want to do this, we can just come back and you can join our operations.”

Halily nodded. She felt the sincerity of the other Hunter’s words. “I know,” she stated, “But I do want to do this. My family deserves justice.”

—————

Ace heard the eager finality in the Awoken’s tone. It wasn’t vindictive or malicious. She wanted to see the entire affair through to the end. The Titan no longer seemed resigned to the undertaking out of a sense of duty to her friends. He took it as a good sign.

“All right. I’m going to head back to my room and gear up.” Despite the lack of actual skin, Ace did enjoy the sensation of fresh air and comfortable clothes. He was wearing regular pants and a shirt while his armor was back in his room. Taking the opportunity to enjoy niceties like relaxing clothes from time to time kept him sane.

Before leaving the table, Ace added, “There is a bathroom in here, by the way. I suspect that coffee will have you hunting for it soon enough. Organics tell me that synthesized stuff is pretty harsh on the body, compared to the real thing.”

Halily glanced down at the cup in her hands, “This is synth?”

Ace shrugged, “Real stuff is hard to come by. I doubt very much that anyone would donate the real thing to a public coffee machine.”

The Titan gave a wry smile as she nodded, “Good point. I know I would definitely hoard the stuff. Which way again?”

The Hunter pointed to a small door in the hallway, just outside the cafeteria. “Fallen design, but functions fine for Humans and Awoken.”

As he reached down to retrieve Nutbar’s data pad, Halily commented, “Your friend told me that you don’t need to try to hide it. You can just return the pad and he won’t give you a hard time.”

He felt the Exomind equivalent of a grin split his face as he replied, “Yes, but my way is so much more entertaining. Besides, it’s become a matter of tradition at this point.”

Ace left the table with that and returned to his quarters. Mal appeared as he closed the door, hovering over the awaiting gear. The Gensym Knight armor was laid out neatly on the bed. As he approached, the ghost asked, “Do you really think the Vanguard is no more?”

The Exo felt pity at the ghost’s troubled voice. In response, he offered, “It doesn’t mean that the Vanguard cannot be rebuilt. If we can end Ghaul and free the Traveler, there will be real Guardians once again. When that happens, Zavala will rez the Vanguard.”

Mal’s shell twitched as the ghost digested his words. Finally, the ghost replied, “I think you’re wrong, Ace. Even without the Light, you are still a Guardian. You continue to fight the Cabal and defend Humanity, despite the loss of your Light.”

Ace smiled at the fierce passion in Mal’s voice. The strength of his tiny partner’s conviction. He then thought about Halily’s ghost and the decorative shell that the Titan had given it. Mal’s faith in Ace was unwavering and absolute. Maybe he should find a shell for his companion when this was over. Hopefully, the artificer who crafted Kaci’s shell survived and could be found after they reclaimed the City. Mal deserved some kind of recognition.

The Hunter filed the thought away for later and retrieved his helmet. He considered the smooth surface of the helm’s faceplate and chuckled, “It gets me out of this cave. That’s all I care about.”

Mal managed to perform a fair approximation of a snort before dematerializing. Ace’s smile lingered as he donned the armor. The smile faded as he turned to the weapons that he had carefully set to rest against the wall. His Nameless Midnight rifle, a Seventh Seraph shotgun, and his trusted Thunderlord machine gun.

Once they left the base, this feeling of relative safety would be over. Would he have the opportunity to see Halily smile again any time soon? The Hunter donned the helmet, hiding his own face from the world.


	8. Chapter 8

As she passed through the larger command chamber, Halily spotted Nutbar sitting at his terminal. The Warlock looked up from the screen as he noticed her from the corner of his eye. He offered a smile as he greeted, “Good morning again. Are you two taking off already?”

Halily glanced back to the tunnel that traveled to the quarters. Ace was not yet in sight. “I believe so. Ace knows who we’re going after and outlined a plan.”

Nutbar leaned back and replied, “I’m sure it’s decent enough. Ace likes to fly by the seat of his pants for the most part, but he’s good at sticking to the major points.”

“He read one pre-Golden Age quote and uses it to justify every crazy thing he does,” a voice calmly muttered from Halily’s side. She turned to see Mike walking up. The Titan nodded to her as he moved to sit down at the center table.

Nutbar glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Is it the one about first contact?” The Warlock didn’t bother to wait for an answer as he shook his head and looked back to Halily. “I think every Hunter alive was rezzed with that quote etched into their soul or something. Even Samus.”

Halily’s confusion must have been plastered plainly to her face because Mike suddenly offered, “There’s an old quote about plans never surviving contact with an enemy. I mean, it’s an accurate philosophy, but some Hunters act like there’s no point in making a plan at all.”

Nutbar snorted, “Someone should point out another pre Golden Age quote to them. ‘Failing to plan is just planning to fail’. If Hunters like ancient wisdom so much, perhaps they should learn something that will actually keep them alive.”

“I’ve heard that one,” Halily replied. It had been one of Espie’s favorite quips. The Warlock would often throw it at the impetuous Paris whenever the Hunter grew overly bored with mission prep.

Nutbar leaned forward, his expression becoming more serious as his voice grew quiet, “Do me a favor and share it with Ace. I worry about him.”

“Yeah,” Mike added, “He’s been getting more and more reckless lately. Please keep an eye on him.”

Halily gave a short nod. She wasn’t sure what she was could possibly do to curb their friend’s recklessness, but she did know that she could watch his back. Not sure what to add to the conversation at this point, Halily decided quickly to change topics. She leaned toward Nutbar and quietly stated, “I tried to give Ace your message, but he said something about tradition before taking off with your tablet.”

The Warlock issued a small sigh before replying, “I figured it would be a waste of time to try, but it was still worth a shot.”

Halily shrugged before turning away from Nutbar. A large monitor nearby caught her eye and she moved to take a closer look. Mike noticed her moving and called out, “With access to encoded transmissions, we are now able to get news from off-world. There’s a lot going on out there.”

The Titan’s eyes scanned the transmission log as she absently replied, “I heard that the Commander is coming back to Earth.”

Mike nodded, “It’s confirmed. We don’t know what’s going on, but we plan to be ready when it is time.”

“We’ll be back before then,” Ace called from the far end of the chamber. Halily turned to see the Hunter striding forward. He was wearing his Gensym Knight armor once more, his helmet in a one hand and a small satchel in another. He handed the satchel to Halily as soon as he drew close. “A few rations for the trip along with first aid supplies. Not sure how long it’s going to take and we don’t want to be forced to come back early.”

Nutbar chuckled, “You don’t know how long you’re going to take, but you’re sure that you’ll be done before Zavala needs us?”

Without pause, Ace gave an emphatic nod. “Absolutely. I’d invite you along, Nutbar, but I don’t want to make this too easy on us. A revenge mission should be fraught with danger and you’d take all the fun out of it. Maybe we should bring Mike along?”

Mike threw a stylus at Ace. The plastic spindle bounced off the back of the Exo’s head.

Nutbar ignored the exchange and commented, “I honestly do wish we could come along. But we have too many Guardians in the field right now and who know which ones will need backup or rescue. Would you be willing to wait a few days for them to return?”

Ace’s mechanical grin disappeared, the brighter light shining from his eyes dimmed to normal, and he replied, “Gelahn’s group lost six ships. They have to be working to reorganize to cover the loss. It’s a chance I want to take advantage of.” He paused to bend down and retrieve the stylus. Ace turned around and walked to Mike, “It would be nice to have you along for the ride.”

The Titan produced a halfhearted smile as he accepted the tiny implement, “Agreed. At least we can help a little bit. I unlocked the armory so that you two can resupply. Maybe swap a weapon if you want.”

Halily watched the Exo clap his Human friend on the shoulder as he walked by. The exchange reminded her of the mock arguments that Brodie and Hastyr would have. When she was first taken in by the team, she honestly believed that the two despised one another. It wasn’t until she got to know each one better that she learned that the two honestly respected one another. Neither of them would actually waste their time and energy on someone that they didn’t deserve it. Halily could see the same camaraderie between Ace and Mike.

As she moved to join Ace, Halily summoned Kaci to store the satchel of supplies away. Despite being cut off from the Light, her ghost was still able to manipulate space and matter as before. The satchel disappeared before her eyes. 

Ace led her to a side room, tucked into one of the chamber’s various nooks and recesses. Ammo crates of various sizes were arranged neatly on a handful of shelves. A weapons locker at the far end of the small room stood open. Halily considered her existing arsenal and quickly decided that she would likely be best served by remaining with the weapons that she was most comfortable using. She turned back to the shelves and began searching for the larger caliber rounds that was compatible with her sniper rifle.

Kaci appeared next to a box and called out, “The sniper? This is what we need.” Halily reached over to open the container and found several dozen paper-bound packages. Hand loaded rounds from reclaimed brass casings. Kaci scanned the contents quickly before commenting, “They’re all in good condition. As good as anything I could reconstruct for you.”

Halily nodded and waited for Kaci to transmat some of the ammunition away to their storage. She noticed a kneeling Ace doing the same thing with shotgun shells and Mal. As the Hunter stood up, Halily asked, “Any heavy ordnance in here? I could use some more for my launcher.”

“Yeah, this shelf at the far end,” Ace answered, “A lot of the explosive stuff got recycled into sabotage bombs and smaller grenades, but Mike insisted that they save a few for their intended purpose.”

Halily looked to Kaci and stated, “We’ll only take a couple.”

“Understood,” the ghost answered.

Turning away from a freshly emptied box of machine gun ammunition, Ace suddenly eyed Halily. Despite the lack of a complete Human expressiveness, she could feel his piercing gaze. After a moment, the Exo asked, “What’s your Sparrow situation like?”

Halily considered her Wind Shrike. She had paid a City artist to give it a custom paint job. It was a little bit flashy, but the Awoken loved the gleaming, coral colored stripes that stood out in contrast to the darker purple body. She especially enjoyed how the darker colors matched the patina finish on her Devastation Complex armor. Halily knew that the Sparrow wasn’t likely going to win her any races in the Sparrow Racing League, but it was pretty fast and got her where she wanted to go.

“I have an okay Sparrow,” the Titan answered, “It’s not the fastest machine on the field, but she is in good condition.”

A couple minutes later, the two Guardians stood in the mouth of the cave’s entrance. Halily watched Ace pass a critical eye over her Wind Shrike. The clouds were heavy in the sky, so the lustrous stripes were a mere muted pink and the dark plum base was practically black. However, the Titan was certain that the Hunter was not much interested in her machine’s paint job. Ace had Mal run a diagnostic scan of her Sparrow while he checked the computer and controls. After inspecting the main engine for another couple of minutes, the Exo finally turned back to her.

“You do a good job of keeping her in good condition. You were not lying about that,” Ace said with a nod of approval, “But she’s a little underpowered in comparison to a lot of Sparrows I’ve seen out there.”

Halily stepped forward, she felt an irrational urge to defensively step between Ace and her Sparrow. “I know she’s not the fastest, but she’s what I have and has been a very reliable machine.”

Ace smiled before replying, “I don’t mean to insult your ride. She does have a really solid engine and I like the paint job. This thing must be a real sight to see in the sunlight.”

Halily relaxed a little and let a smile blossom on her face. “Yeah, she’s always been fast enough for me, so I gave a fist of Glimmer to an artist to make her look nice.”

The Hunter gave the Wind Shrike another appreciative nod before turning back to the Titan and asking, “Do you think you’d be able to handle a faster machine? Speed is going to be important for us and every little bit helps. Mal?”

At the prompt, a pair of Sparrows materialized in the cave to join hers. The first was a model similar to her own, just a bit more sleek and aerodynamic looking. The chassis also appeared to be constructed of a different material; likely something lighter. But Halily’s eyes were immediately drawn to the other one.

The second of Ace’s Sparrows looked less like a vehicle than a metallic grasshopper, ready to jump. She had seen similar craft whenever she sat down to watch a race, but she wasn’t as into the racing hobby as others. However, that did not stop her from being impressed by the Sparrow. Instead of the normal angular arrow with a rocket inside, this thing was a wire frame attached to a seat that was perched atop a jet engine. It looked ridiculously fast while also giving the impression that it could be shattered by someone just eyeing it the wrong way.

It looked like a lot of fun.

Ace stepped toward the wireframe vehicle and stated, “This is my Ridgerunner Rex. She’s lots of fun on the track and great for stunts. However, I don’t recommend trying to pull off stunts when we can’t rez any more.”

Halily heard the sadness in his tone. She sensed that the Exo loved taking his craft onto the track to do the very thing that he was warning her against. She wondered if Garick would have recognized Ace or his Sparrow. The Warlock leader had been a very big fan of the Sparrow Racing League and knew the stats for just about all of the major racers.

Then Ace pointed to the more traditional Sparrow and commented, “This one is my Ravensteel. She may not look it, but she is just as fast as any other machine you would find if we were still holding races. Not quite as nimble as the Ridgerunner here, but I could swear that Ravensteel manages to top out faster in the straights.”

The Titan raised an eyebrow at that comment. He was right when he said that the vehicle didn’t appear to be very fast. It had a very basic body type that practically matched that of her own Sparrow. She didn’t disbelieve the Hunter, though, she was simply surprised that such was the case.

“How’d you manage that?” Halily asked.

Ace paused for a long moment as he considered his response. Finally, he answered, “I’m not sure you want to know. You may not be willing to ride her if I did.”

“What? How dangerous is it?”

Ace patted the air as he replied, “Don’t worry. It’s really not that bad. The Ravensteel controls just like your Shrike, just with a fair bit more acceleration and a touch faster in the top speed.”

Halily looked up from the Sparrow before her, “You’re going to let me pilot this?”

“As I said, speed could play a big part in whether or not we make it out. I want us to have the best chance possible,” Ace explained, “The Ravensteel is most like what you’re used to piloting so you shouldn’t have too much trouble adjusting to it.”

Halily shrugged as she replied, “Yeah, let’s give her a try. If it controls like my Shrike then I see no reason not to. Kaci?”

A moment later, the Wind Shrike disappeared in a transmat haze, returned to her jump ship’s holding area. Donning her helmet as she stepped to the Ravensteel, the Titan admiring the sleek, black chassis. The anti-grav repulsers allowed only the tiniest bob as she threw her right leg over to settle into the seat. She could feel the Sparrow’s engine thrumming as she leaned forward to grasp the pair of throttle controls and set her feet against the rests.

Halily noted that the Ravensteel seat’s design had her leaning further forward than her Wind Shrike. She was practically laying down on the vehicle. It definitely created an even smaller profile of the pilot, improving the overall aerodynamics. Despite the unfamiliar position, it was not uncomfortable and the dual throttle controls were quite familiar. The Titan looked forward to riding this Sparrow.

“You look comfortable,” Ace commented as he mounted his Ridgerunner, “Ready to go?”

In response, Halily thrust both throttles forward. The sudden launch almost caught her by surprise. She expected the Sparrow to be incredibly fast, but she thought that Ace undersold the difference when he said that there would be “a fair bit more acceleration” than her own vehicle’s. Fortunately, she was ready to be surprised and reacted swiftly. Keeping the throttle fully open, Halily raced through the trees and brush, avoiding any obstacles with ease. A laugh escaped her lips as she allowed herself to delight in the ride.


	9. Chapter 9

Ace smiled at the laughter carried through the comm link in his helmet. It was good that she was enjoying this moment. It was not likely that there would be many moments quiet enough for them to relax in such a way. As the Ravensteel disappeared with Halily into the tree line, Ace summoned Mal.

“Chart a course for us to the south airfield,” the Hunter instructed.

A moment later, a handful of waypoint markers appeared in his helmet’s visor. One marker was larger and bright than the others. Ace turned so that it was directly in the center of his line of sight and considered the course. There was a noticeable bend between a couple of the markers further out.

“Why the curve?” Ace asked.

“There is a deep ravine between our current position and the Cabal base. This route takes us to a road that leads to a bridge that will get us across,” Mal explained.

Nodding at the logic, Ace mounted the Ridgerunner and eased his vehicle out of the cave’s mouth. Halily had launched off in the opposite direction, but he could hear the engine of the returning Sparrow. He nosed his Ridgerunner in the direction of the closest marker and waited.

A couple seconds later, giggling uncontrollably, Halily reappeared from the tree line. As she pulled back on both throttles, braking to a full stop next to him, Ace called out, “Having a good time?”

“As a matter of fact,” the Titan began, “I am. She handles beautifully. A bit more kick off the line than I am used to, but my Shrike isn’t too far off at the top end.”

“Yeah, the top speed on these isn’t that much greater than any other Sparrow,” Ace admitted, “It’s getting up there quick that matters. These have gotten me out of more trouble because of that than I really want to think about.”

Halily turned her head to look in the distance, toward the marker. “Is that where we are heading?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Ace answered, “It’ll be a bit of a jog, even on Sparrow. We should get there in a couple hours.”

Halily nodded and gestured for Ace to take the lead. The Hunter smiled under his helmet and opened the throttle. The trees around him leapt forward as his vehicle launched. It had been a long while since he last took a moment to appreciate the thrill of riding. He doubted that he had experienced it even during the last few League races; he had been more focused on maintaining his top tier standing. Hearing Halily’s laughter of delight had reminded Ace of why he had first become interested in racing in the first place. He had taken up racing Sparrows because he simply loved to go fast.

But then he managed to get good at the sport and it became about podium finishes and ranking. The Hunter wound up switching from conflict on the battlefield to conflict on the track and back again. What had once been a refuge from the horrors of battle and a way to relax, he had turned into another kind of battle. Without such an escape, was it any wonder that he sometimes struggled with his existence as a Guardian?

Ace shook the introspection away. Not taking the time to enjoy the moment may very well be the root cause of his current dissatisfaction; he was ruining this very moment with his thoughts. The Hunter spotted a small rise in the distance and angled his Sparrow to ride the sharp incline. He didn’t even try to contain his laughter as the Ridgerunner was launched several meters into the air.

“I thought you said to avoid attempting stunts,” Halily chided playfully.

Ace laughed again, “That ramp was simply too good to pass up.”

—————

Several minutes passed as the two Guardians raced along the course charted by Mal. The terrain became less dense with trees and other growth as they climbed in elevation. The base that Ace and his fellows operated out of was positioned at the foot of a mountain range. Despite the reduced tree density, the pair were never out in the open for long and were always close to cover. They paused and moved to shelter under the canopy once already when a Fallen Skiff passed overhead.

As they neared the dilapidated road and the bridge that would take them from one ridge to the next, Ace signaled for a stop. They were only a few meters away from the edge of the road and a few dozen from the bridge. Halily pulled up close before halting. “What’s wrong?” the Titan asked.

Ace shook his head, “Nothing is wrong. I’m just trying to decide if we want to continue on this course. The road will be a lot easier to travel on than the ‘trail’ we’ve been following. But roads like these invite a lot of risk as Fallen and Cabal both like to make use of them. Then there’s the bridge itself.”

“Yeah, we’ll be exposed for a couple minutes without any way to get to cover,” Halily observed, “How long to go around?”

Mal unfolded in the empty space in front of Ace. The ghost bobbed above the Sparrow as it answered, “You would add at least another half hour. This bridge spans a sheer ravine that cannot be crossed any other way. You two would need to go around.”

“It’s only a couple minutes. We could likely lose any-” Halily cut herself off as the sound of a distant explosion reached her ears.

Ace reacted just as quickly and launched his Sparrow out of cover, onto the roadway. He raced to the edge of the bridge before suddenly stopping. “Mal! Where did that explosion come from?” he shouted.

“From below,” Mal began, “There’s a ruined city down there. Your most likely source.”

“Show me,” Ace instructed.

A new waypoint marker appeared in his visor. The Hunter pulled the Scout Rifle from his back and used the scope to pierce the distance. From the location on the bridge above the ravine, he had a clear line of sight down to the ruins. The sound of another explosion reached his auditory sensors.

“Cabal Thresher,” Halily stated. Ace glanced over to see her staring through the powerful scope of hit sniper rifle. A moment later she added, “There may be a Goliath as well. Those explosions are pretty loud for a Thresher.”

Ace considered the information for a moment before asking, “What are they fighting? Could that Fallen Skiff from earlier be related?”

“I don’t see the Skiff,” Halily answered, “Could have been shot down.”

Kaci suddenly materialized just as Mal began shouting, “City refugees! They’re Human!”

Ace didn’t think. He reacted. The Hunter whipped his Sparrow around the bridge’s railing at the junction point with the road and onto the deep slope. He could hear the Ravensteel’s engine as Halily was immediately behind him.

“Mal, make sure you and Kaci are ready for immediate transmat if either of us lose control,” Ace muttered as he used a side boost maneuver to avoid collision with a tree. There was no trail of any kind to help the two Guardians navigate their way down the steep slope.

“Understood,” Mal replied.

Ace eased off the throttle as a denser grove of larger trees became visible, but it was moot. Gravity was just as much responsible for their speed now as the Sparrow’s engine. The Exo’s vision narrowed as he focused on the rapidly approaching tree line and tried to identify the best entry angle.

“Mal, keep those transmats ready.”

A moment later, before the ghost could respond, Ace found himself suddenly in the midst of dozens of towering trees. There was no straight course he could follow that would not have him crashing into one of the trunks. However, the course he had taken into the grove did allow for the two riders to only need to weave slightly for the most part.

As the first dozen trees zipped past, Ace realized that he could hear Halily quietly laughing into the comm. He had been so focused on maintaining control of his vehicle that he had no idea how long she had been doing so.

“Is she insane?” the Hunter muttered as he performed a sudden lateral boost to avoid a head on collision.

“Given her condition when we first found her? That is a possibility,” Mal replied.

“Mal! Not cool!” Ace chided.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“I know,” Ace interrupted through gritted teeth as he performed a tight weave through a trio of trees and then executed a another sideways boost to avoid a fourth. “How is she doing back there?” the Hunter asked.

“Very well,” Mal answered, “She is doing an excellent job of following your path.”

Ace wanted to make a joke about the blind leading the blind, swapping mad for blind, but he was too focused on the obstacles ahead. Instead, he simply muttered, “I had better not screw up then.”

“Forty meters and tree density improves,” Mal informed him.

Another loud explosion thundered though the trees; significantly louder now that they were much closer. Ace resisted the urge to look up to the sky, to look for the presence of the Cabal Thresher. If he collided with any of the obstacles in his path, there would no longer be any reason to worry about a Cabal gunship overhead. Instead, he simply asked, “Have we been spotted yet?”

Mal was quiet for a couple seconds. Ace continued to weave through the trees as he raced toward the battle. As his Sparrow finally burst forth from the grove, Mal answered, “No, I do not believe so. Eight hundred meters to the edge of the ruins.”

The slope before them was mostly an open field with only an occasional tree rising up to touch the heavens. The forest continued to dominate the mountainside along his left side, only a score of meters away. To his right, the ravine from above had grown into a massive chasm as it traveled down the mountain. The bridge up above had been only a few dozen meters across to span the ravine. If it had been built down here, the bridge would have needed to be several hundred.

Down the slope, Ace could make out the ruined husks of what had once been a small town. Easing his Sparrow to the left in order to put the cover of the forest within easy reach, Ace spoke up into the comm link, “We’re going to stay out in the open so we can get there as fast as possible. Keep those trees close, though. If we need cover, brake hard and head in there.”

“Got it,” Halily called out.

The Hunter noted that she was no longer laughing, but was unable to spare any further thought on the matter. No longer needing to dodge trees, he open the throttle again. Taller bushes and large stones still were still present and posed a danger, but they were easily avoided now that he could see all the way down the slope. Ace easily glided from one side to another as he positioned himself well in advance of any hazard. The downhill slope had eased into a level plain in the last couple hundred meters.

“Ace!” Halily shouted, “Contact! Two o’clock!”

The Hunter glanced to the right and spotted the Thresher coming over the tree line. The two Guardians were almost to the ruins. He performed a quick mental calculation and called back, “You brake hard and go for the trees. I’m close enough to the buildings.”

“Understood,” the Titan replied.

Ace didn’t even glance to his radar display in his helmet’s visor. He simply leaned forward on his Ridgerunner and urged every ounce of speed out of the vehicle. The Cabal gunship wasn’t close, but it didn’t need to be in order to fire upon him. His only chance was to enter the town and the cover that the ruined buildings offered before the pilot could target him.

Even as he burst into the town proper, past the first building that would cover him, Ace wondered at the wisdom of his decision. The momentum that he had gained from the steep drop down the slope had translated into an unbelievable speed as he raced past a handful of ruined husks atop the remnants of a concrete road.

Pulling back on both throttle controls, Ace attempted maintain control of his trajectory through the hard brake. The Ridgerunner wanted to continue on in at least seven different directions, seemingly all of them directly into a brick wall of one building or another, and the Hunter fought to keep the Sparrow in the middle of the open street.

As the vehicle settled down and he felt himself slowing to a near stop, an explosion shook the Exo. If he had teeth, they would have been rattling inside his mechanical skull. Ace glanced up to see a large group of Cabal soldiers turning to face him, only a mere twenty meters away. They seemed just as surprised to find Ace so close as he did. The explosion had been a Cabal grenade charge that had been thrown as much by accident as on purpose.

Ace jammed both throttle controls forward and the Ridgerunner leapt forward. Any machine with an inferior acceleration would have been annihilated as two more grenades erupted in the vehicle’s wake. “Halily, we have troops on the ground down here as well as that Thresher in the air,” Ace shouted into the comm relay.

“What’s the plan?” Halily’s calm voice came back.

“Hit and run,” Ace answered, “They appeared to be focusing on a single building. I suspect that is where the survivors are holed up and the troopers are likely concentrated on it.”

“Okay. I’ll hit them from cover.”

“They’re probably spreading out to chase after me. Be careful.”


	10. Chapter 10

Despite the incredible danger and the impending battle, Halily couldn’t deny the rush of adrenaline as she followed Ace into the evergreen grove. She was far enough back to watch his maneuvering, but not so far that she ever lost sight of him. The Hunter was a very skilled pilot, by her estimation, as he managed to weave through the tight knit of trees without braking or even coming close to crashing. She managed to mimic his movements and couldn’t contain the laughter of delight as the Sparrow beneath her responded perfectly to her controls. As trees flashed by in a blur, she understood why so many Guardians loved to race their machines. It was exhilarating.

And then they were suddenly out in the open. The wide smile that had split her face disappeared; she could see the ruins in the distance. Ace had managed to put a little distance between the two of them in the forest as she had eased off the throttle a few times. The Titan pressed forward on the Ravensteel’s controls sticks as she moved to place herself on the same line as the Ridgerunner.

As she got into position, Ace’s voice carried over the comm relay, “We’re going to stay out in the open so we can get there as fast as possible. Keep those trees close, though. If we need cover, brake hard and head in there.”

Halily glanced to the left and made note of the nearby tree line. It was only a few meters away and Ace appeared to be keeping it close with his trajectory. “Got it,” she answered.

A few moments later, as the downhill slope transitioned into a more level field, the Titan noticed a suddenly flash of light in the sky. Glancing up, she spotted sunlight glinting off of the Thresher’s hull. The gunship was angled toward the racing Guardians and approaching.

A moment of panic swept over the Titan as she realized that the Hunter was unaware of the ship. “Ace!” Halily screamed, “Contact! Two o’clock!”

Ace didn’t deviate from his path in the slightest or try to reduce his velocity. She expected him to brake hard so that he could safely perform some kind of evasive maneuvering. If he tried to make any sharp turns at his current speed, surely he would wreck. That had happened to her many times in the past when she was first learning to master her Wind Shrike. Perhaps that was the difference between a novice Sparrow pilot and a professional.

The Exo’s calm voice came back a moment later, “You brake hard and go for the trees. I’m close enough to the buildings.”

Halily had already begun slowing the Ravensteel in anticipation of Ace’s braking; she hadn’t wanted to collide with the Ridgerunner when the Hunter started making sudden turns. Instead, the Ridgerunner began accelerating faster as she made a hard left turn toward the nearby tree line. Despite the dangerous situation, Halily smiled to herself as she managed to execute a perfectly timed lateral boost to keep the Ravensteel from escaping her control. Immediately after passing into cover within the trees, the Titan started angling back toward the ruins. She made sure to keep a respectable amount of trees between herself and the Thresher. It would not take much from the gunship’s main turret to decimate her cover, so she made sure to vacate her last known position as swiftly as possible.

She managed to get another hundred meters closer to the city’s perimeter when Ace’s excited voice burst into her helmet, “Halily, we have troops on the ground down here as well as that Thresher in the air.”

Halily blinked twice as she absorbed the information. She continued toward the nearest building as she asked, “What’s the plan?”

“Hit and run,” Ace answered, “They appeared to be focusing on a single building. I suspect that is where the survivors are holed up and the troopers are likely concentrated on it.”

Suddenly, a waypoint marker appeared in her visor. Kaci had received data from Mal and was relaying it to the Titan. It appeared that the troops Ace was referring to were gathered several blocks into the city proper. “Okay. I’ll hit them from cover.”

“They’re probably spreading out to chase after me. Be careful.” There was a finality to Ace’s tone that Halily interpreted as indication that he was expecting her to figure out how to best insert herself into the coming battle.

The Titan wasn’t completely unfamiliar with having so much agency in a battle, but she would be dishonest if she didn’t admit that she was used to taking orders. In fact, she felt much more comfortable being told what to do so that she didn’t have to worry about making a bad decision. Halily’s mind began racing as she reviewed the myriad of possible approaches she could take.

“Hey,” Kaci’s gentle voice interrupted the violent flood of thoughts, “You’ve got this. He trusts you.”

The Titan shook her head. She wasn’t sure if it was to dispel the cacophonous jumble of thoughts in her mind, or if it was to dismiss Kaci’s comment and reject trust being given as misplaced. “We don’t have time,” Halily muttered to herself, “Move.”

Swiftly weaving through the trees, the Titan arrived at the nearest ruined building. The wall closest to her had collapsed, spilling bricks and mortar into the forest. The remaining structure looked like it would also fall if hit with a stiff breeze. “Scans show that most of the buildings in the area are just as bad as this one,” Kaci commented as the Guardian coasted around a corner.

Halily focused her attention on the radar display in her visor. She had lost sight of the Thresher and worried about the ground troops that Ace had spotted. Fortunately, the indicator showed no enemies close by. The Titan then turned to the direction of the waypoint indicator. “Find me a decently solid structure near there,” she instructed.

A moment later, a handful of new indicators appeared. “These meet your... specification,” Kaci commented.

Turning her head to consider the options, Halily quickly selected one of the closer waypoints and dismounted. The building she chose was only a couple blocks away and she didn’t want the Sparrow’s engine to alert nearby troops. “Kaci, stow that. I’m moving on foot.”

“Understood,” the ghost replied.

The Titan unholstered her hand cannon as she sprinted across the empty lane to the next block. The street was a jumbled wreck; chunks of asphalt jutted out at odd angles as tufts of vegetation worked to reclaim the territory. A large sinkhole halfway down the block in another direction swallowed almost the entire lane from one building front to another. One of the buildings spilled its wall into the street and down the crater.

Halily focused on moving toward her destination, the sound of gunfire urging her on. As she moved, her eyes kept glancing to the radar, checking on the proximity of any potential enemies and ready to react if any got too close. Fortunately, none of the Cabal felt the need to move in her direction. She suspected that Ace was deliberately leading any pursuers on a wild chase in the other direction.

A couple minutes later, as she reached the fourth open stretch of destroyed asphalt and concrete, Halily finally spotted the Cabal troops. When she was only a few steps away from the intersection, Kaci spoke up, “That is the street that Ace found the Cabal soldiers on. They were all several blocks away.”

The Titan paused as she neared corner of the building she was passing by. She peaked around the edge of the wall for a moment, long enough to spot the unmistakable hulking shapes of Cabal Legionaries in the distance. They were a handful of blocks away and scuttling about in disarray, trying to simultaneously continue the siege of the survivors whilst also giving chase after Ace. The confusion was apparent and Halily seized the opportunity.

She dashed across the final empty space to the building she had selected. One of the walls was partially collapsed, but only small portion that was near the midpoint. Nowhere near one of the critical corners. The Titan slipped into the structure through the broken wall and began ascending. The stairs connecting each level were built into an adjacent wall, exposed by the destruction of the internal wall. Fortunately, the stairs were attached to the external wall and still functional.

As she crested the sixth landing, arriving at the topmost floor, Halily swiftly holstered her hand cannon and retrieved the sniper rifle from her back. Shouldering the Veleda-D as she approached the window on the wall the faced toward the group of Cabal, Halily crept into position. Checking the sky for the Thresher, she made sure that she wasn’t in danger of being spotted before raising the rifle into position.

Resting the barrel atop the window sill, the Titan steadied the weapon as she looked into the scope. The Cabal appeared to have resolved the confusion as she observed a small group detach from the others and move off. She presumed that it was in whatever direction Ace had gone. Halily focused back on the main group gathered together. Their attention was focused on a building so that all of the troops were standing with their right side presented to the Titan. Several were firing their heavy slug launchers at the structure itself, but the building was apparently still in excellent condition and constructed from much sturdier material than the rest of the town.

Halily realized that the small weapons fire was a distraction as she spotted a pair of Legionaries kneeling over a device. They were preparing an explosive charge. Halily swiftly centered her reticle on the Cabal soldier closest to the device and squeezed the trigger.

Black gel erupted from the trooper’s shattered helmet as Halily threw herself to the floor. The Cabal knew which direction the shot came from, but not which building. She waited several seconds as the faint sound of Cabal arguing carried down the street.

Suddenly, she had an idea. “Kaci, they were working on a bomb down there. Would it detonate if I shot it?”

“Not a regular round, but your sniper should. The Arc energy should activate the trigger mechanism,” Kaci quietly answered.

Halily sat up and replaced the Veleda-D on the window frame. She quickly found the device in the same place on the ground as before. The Titan took a calm, steadying breath as she sighted on the explosive charge and exhaled as she squeezed the trigger.

The explosion threw the nearest Cabal across the street and into the air, killing them instantly. A dozen broken bodies collapsed upon the ground while the rest of the group managed to stagger to their feet. A handful clutched frantically at small ruptures in their pressurized suits, trying to staunch the flow of the oily substance within.

“That. Was. Brilliant.” Ace’s whispered voice carried over the communication relay, “Now get moving. That gunship has your position.”

The Titan didn’t hesitate. As she turned and ran back to the stairs, she replaced the sniper rifle on her back. The large gun was a hazard while on the move.

As she rounded the third landing, halfway down to the ground floor, Halily heard the sharp retorts of gunfire. It did not sound like the heavy blast of Cabal slugs. “Ace? You okay?” she asked into the comm link.

“Just giving them something else to consider,” Ace answered, “Remember. Hit and run.”

Halily nodded as she reached the second floor. She paused and considered the indicators that were still present in her helmet’s visor. There were a couple that she felt would have a good line of sight on the Cabal. Suddenly, the building trembled as an explosion shook the roof above.

“The Thresher is firing on the building,” Kaci explained.

“Wow. They must be really pissed off at me,” the Titan grinned.

Kaci’s voice showed no appreciation for her quippy observation. “You need to move fast. This structure will not withstand that gunship’s attacks for long,” the ghost commented. 

Still smiling, Halily asked, “Where is the ship?”

“North. Almost directly over the primary group,” Kaci answered.

The smile faded as Halily sighed. That meant she could be seen by the gunship’s pilot if she exited through the ruptured wall. As she reached the ground floor, the Titan quickly glanced around. Whatever purpose the building had once served was buried under rubble. Internal walls were nothing more than skeletons as the surface material collapsed, leaving only support frames still standing. A second explosion sent another tremor down the building. The ceiling in the middle fell in and the rupture in the wall grew as more brick and mortar failed under the stress.

“Over there!” Kaci cried out excitedly, bobbing in the air toward the wall opposite the rupture. Halily turned to follow the ghost and spotted the large door. Detritus pooled on the floor around the exit, but the metal push plate indicated that it swung outward.

Halily didn’t hesitate or slow in the slightest. Suspecting that the door plate mechanism had lost function to lack of use and the ravages of time, the Titan leapt into the air and delivered a savage flying kick. With a sudden protesting scream of rusted metal giving way, the door flew open as bits of the frame flew away.

The Titan tumbled forward, into the awaiting street and into the midst of a trio of surprised Legionaries. The opening door had struck one of the soldiers, doing no actual damaged except to knock it back a couple steps. The other two had turned toward their companion and were thus unprepared to deal with Guardian suddenly appearing next to them.

Crimil’s Dagger already in hand, Halily reacted more swiftly. Squeezing the trigger even as she raised the weapon, the Titan struck the Legionary at her right side with every round. She was so close that she couldn’t miss, so close that the gel within the pressurized suit splashed onto her armor as it erupted from the handful of holes.

Even as that first trooper fell to the ground, the Titan hurled herself bodily into next. Her left shoulder slammed into the Cabal’s chest, forcing it to take a step back. However, the soldier was not as unbalanced as the one struck by the door and didn’t budge beyond that single step. The soldier, unable to retaliate with a wrist blade or Slug Rifle, shoved back on the Titan with its chest. Halily accepted the push and even added momentum of her own as she danced to one side, putting the trooper between herself and the Cabal that had been struck by the door.

As soon as the Guardian was pushed away, the Legionary activated its wrist blade and swung at the spinning Titan. Fortunately for Halily, she anticipated the attack and ducked underneath the wild swing. As the Cabal’s arm swung over her head, Halily lifted her hand cannon and fired twice. Her last two rounds found the soldier’s helmet.

Swiftly ejecting the spent cylinder, the Titan replaced it with a fresh one as the body toppled backward. Halily stayed crouched low so that the Legionary shielded her for as long as possible. As soon as the space between her and the last soldier was clear, the Titan threw herself to the left. The third Cabal soldier had recovered and his slug rifle was ready; it began firing even before its fellow finished falling.

Halily was not where it had expected her to be. The heavy slugs found only pavement. Before the Legionary could react, the Titan opened fire. She was already racing to her next destination before the Cabal struck the ground.


	11. Chapter 11

Ace watched the remaining Cabal Legionaries recover from Halily’s cunning explosion and start moving toward the building that she had fired from. He was at street level, having managed to slip away from his pursuers and double back without being spotted. The Thresher had appeared over the street almost immediately after the explosion, moving toward Halily’s position. The Hunter warned the Titan about the Thresher as he moved out of cover and into a better position. With the more clear line of sight, Ace raised his scout rifle and fired at the Cabal troopers.

Halily’s voice came over the comm link, “Ace? You okay?”

“Just giving them something else to consider,” he answered as a pair of Legionaries fell to his Nameless Midnight, “Remember. Hit and run.”

A few of the soldiers turned back to face the Hunter. He fired several more rounds at another of the Cabal rushing toward Halily’s position before retreating. Heavy slugs exploded in his wake as the pursuing Legionaries attempted to shoot the sprinting Guardian, but he was too far away. 

Ace was pleased. Halily had managed to kill or incapacitate fully half of the original squad. Then he had managed to split the remaining group in half, with one group pursuing him and another racing toward Halily. As long as she was swift to find new cover, she could likely pick off a few more while he did the same thing. The only variable that Ace didn’t like was the small group that he had pulled away and subsequently lost when he first arrived. That meant another half dozen Cabal somewhere in these ruins unaccounted for. The Hunter quickly put the thoughts of the missing group out of his mind and focused on dealing with his pursuers. If that last group reappeared, they could be dealt with at that time.

Using the sound of Cabal gunfire as an indicator, Ace correctly estimated when the Legionaries giving chase had regained sight of him. As soon as the Cabal spotted the Guardian, they began firing. And they were gaining. Through effective use of their jet packs, the troopers were able to make great “leaps” toward the Hunter. Ace made abrupt turns at various intersections and alleyways to reduce the amount of gains they could make.

After a couple minutes of fleeing, Ace suddenly turned and opened fire. The Cabal had grown so accustomed to his perpetual retreat, that they were taken by surprise. In fact, they were beginning to think that they should return to the siege of the building when the Guardian attacked again. It caught them by surprise. They were all in the air and did not have their weapons readied.

Ace killed two of them mid flight and wounded a third. He dove into an alleyway and raced away again. The surviving soldiers roared with rage, swearing revenge as they took up the chase with renewed vigor. The Guardian had sealed his fate by taking the time to fire upon the Legionaries; they were inches away from catching him now.

Dashing around a corner, Ace halted abruptly. He was out of view, but the troopers had clearly witnessed him make the sharp right turn as they were only a few meters away in the tight alley. It was only a few seconds after his exit onto the street that the three Cabal stampeded out after him.

As soon as the first Legionary rounded the corner, Ace fired his shotgun. The Hunter had pressed himself against the wall just beyond the corner of the building. He was practically at point blank range and the blast sent the soldier careening away, leaving a second one open. Ace didn’t hesitate and fired again, killing the Cabal.

The third and final trooper of the group had been given enough time to react and had its slug rifle in hand. The Legionary began firing at the Guardian, managing to score a pair of glancing blows. The impacts tore into his armor’s energy shield and threw the Hunter into the wall. Ace threw himself to the ground in a desperate maneuver to avoid being struck again. His shields had managed to prevent any physical harm, but they were shredded now and another strike would cause significant damage.

From the ground, Ace racked a fresh shell and fired. The angle was poor and he wasn’t able to aim, but he was still able to tear into the Legionary’s left pauldron. The force of the blast knocked the soldier to one side for a moment, causing its next volley of shots to veer off to the side. The Hunter quickly rolled to the side as he regained his feet. The Cabal roared with frustration and charged the remaining handful of steps to thrust a wrist blade at the Guardian’s face. Ace ducked under the attack and responded with his own knife. As he dropped down low, his hand reached and found the hilt of his knife at his back. With a swift and practiced motion, the Hunter drew the blade and immediately drove it into the Legionary’s stomach.

The impossibly sharp knife pierced the soldier‘s armor and flesh. Instinctively, the Cabal jerked away from the attack. It tried another swipe at the Guardian, but Ace was already moving. As the wrist blade swung down, he shifted to the other side and stood up. This time, the Hunter’s knife found the crease between the Legionary’s helmet and breastplate.

—————

Knowing that any time spent dealing with the three Cabal in the street exponentially increased the risk of being caught by the rest, Halily raced as quickly as she could to her next waypoint. She stayed as close to the buildings as possible to avoid being spotted by the gunship’s pilot. The Titan only veered into the street a couple times in order to avoid the hazard of running over a ruined building’s rubble. She didn’t need a simple twisted ankle to ruin everything.

The building she had chosen was only a couple blocks away and on the same street. The building’s doors were gone, leaving only an ancient frame in the wall. As the Titan rushed through the portal, Kaci’s voice came through her helmet’s speaker, “You weren’t spotted. They have only just now arrived at this street.”

Halily crouched down to the side of the open doorway and whispered, “Is there another exit?”

Her ghost paused for a moment before answering, “There are two. One at the far end, opposite this door, and another along the wall to your left.”

The Titan nodded and shifted slightly so that she could aim her sniper rifle through the doorway. The Legionaries were considering the building that she vacated and the dead compatriots they had found. Three were in clear view while the other three could not be seen. Halily suspected that they had gone inside to search for her. She quickly sighted on the nearest Cabal and fired.

The soldier fell while its two companions immediately turned and began firing blindly. Halily calmly maintained her position and fired another round. With a gargled cry, a second Legionary fell. The Titan was tempted to make a third shot, but the soldier suddenly leapt into the air, propelled by its short-range jet pack. Before she could adjust her shot, the second half of the group rushed around the corner and into the street. She jumped to her feet and sprinted for the door on the opposite wall, replacing the long rifle on her back as she ran.

A crunching sound, rubble being crushed under heavy boots, alerted Halily to the Legionary’s arrival. She had just reached the door when she turned about to see the Cabal soldier step through the open threshold. Over its shoulder, Halily could see the other three, still at the far end of the block, launch into the air. The Titan swiftly raised her hand cannon and fired.

The Cabal responded in kind. Four rounds from Halily’s gun found the target while only one of the Cabal’s struck her. The slug slammed into her chest with the unexpected force of a vehicle. Fortunately for Halily, her energy shield absorbed the majority of the kinetic energy of the blast. She would have a gnarly bruise if she survived this mission, but nothing serious. The Legionary fell to the floor; asphyxiating as one of her rounds had struck its helmet and shattered the soldier’s visor.

The Titan kicked the door open as she retrieved her heavy Veleda-D. Spinning about and crouching down, she raised the rifle right as the second half of the Cabal soldiers landed in front of the building. Halily knew that she was taking a risk, but she managed to quickly sight on one and fire. The Legionaries had begun firing as soon as they touched down, but the slugs struck the wall and ceiling around her. The sniper round, however, struck home and the trooper was thrown to the ground with a large hole in its destroyed chest.

Halily retreated even before she knew that her shot had hit her target; she couldn’t risk being struck again in her current condition. The alleyway behind the building was incredibly narrow with only one direction clear of any debris. Clutching the rifle to her chest, she sprinted as fast as possible toward the street. Halily could hear the remaining pair of Cabal crashing through room as they couldn’t use their jet packs to leap. That gave her time.

Dropping to the ground, the Titan slid to a stop and she spun about. Her rifle trained on the open door, she waited. A second later, the first Cabal crashed through the doorway and slammed into the alley wall. Halily restrained herself and allowed the trooper to move forward a couple steps, making space for his fellow, before firing. The Cabal fell backward as its helmet erupted with black gel. The last soldier halted when it saw the Legionary in front of him fall. It tried to return to the doorway, but the alley was too tight for the trooper’s bulky armor. Halily fired again, just before the soldier was able to reach the open door.

Sighing heavily with relief, the Titan turned back to the street. As she returned the Veleda to her back, the roar of the Thresher’s engine overhead banished the sense of relief she had begun to feel. Running down the street, toward the nearest opening she could see, Halily shouted into the comm relay, “Ace, that gunship is on me!”

A moment passed before the Hunter replied, “Get to cover. I’m on my way.”

Diving through the blasted remains of a door, into a room that was filled with debris, the Titan hunkered down against the wall. There wasn’t much space inside as the structure was mostly collapsed, the ceiling had caved in along with the several floors above. Kaci’s voice whispered through her helmet speaker, “This one won’t last very long against that Thresher.”

Halily glanced out the ruined door to the street, at the other buildings down the street. None of them were in any better shape than her current location. Several large pieces of the remaining ceiling fell onto the giant debris pile as the building shuddered under the force of the Thresher’s first attack. “We don’t have much of a choice right now. If I move for a different spot, I’m going to get gunned down by that ship,” Halily sighed.

“Hold on,” Ace calmly responded, “I’m almost there.”

As she began to wonder what the Hunter thought he could do against the gunship, he raced by on his Sparrow. Kaci produced the ghost equivalent of a gasp, “He’s going to draw the gunship away.”

Mal’s voice came over the comm link, confirming, “You two get out of here.”

The ground shook slightly as the Thresher’s next blast struck the ground instead of the building. Halily peeked out to see the Cabal ship turning sharply to follow the speeding Ridgerunner. She could see the ship’s main turret even more quickly, following the Hunter’s path.

Halily’s mind began racing as she considered the possible outcomes. The gunship was well capable of keeping up with the racing Sparrow once it got going and the turret could track even faster. Ace was definitely drawing the ship away from her position, but he would eventually wind up in the same position as her. Suddenly, she shouted, “Kaci! The Zenobia!”

Her ghost didn’t hesitate. The sniper rifle in her hands vanished with a blue flash, to be replaced with a personal rocket launcher. The Titan jumped out into the street and hoisted the launcher up onto her shoulder. The gunship was banking to the side, over the buildings as it swerved to get in better line to catch the fleeing Hunter. Halily silently prayed for the launcher’s tracking system to get a lock before the Thresher disappeared from view.

Finger on the trigger, she was ready when the lock on tone sounded. The rocket launched just before the gunship passed over the roofline. Halily watched it fly just long enough to see it turn and accelerate after the Thresher. As she sprinted to the intersection, the Titan heard the rocket’s explosion. Rounding the corner, she was able to see the gunship suddenly lurch to one side as the starboard engine erupted in flames.

“Halily...” Ace’s voice carried through the communication relay with an awed tone, “What did you just do?”

The Thresher swiftly lost control and careened into a building several blocks down the street. The gunship plowed through the structure’s wall, causing the entire building to completely collapse onto the ship. A few moments later, the Thresher erupted into a large ball of flame as leaking fuel reached the fires from the engine that had been struck by her rocket.

Ace’s awed tone became a hushed whisper as he repeated, “What did you just do?”

She couldn’t answer. She stammered as she tried to explain that firing the launcher had been a wild gamble. That sheer luck had guided her rocket to strike the entire like that.

Ace’s laughter cut her short, “That was amazing. Let’s head back to where the survivors ar- shit. Hold on.”

“Ace? What’s wrong?” Halily called out.

“He stumbled across the last of the troopers,” Kaci explained, “It appears they were going to try and cut him off as he ran from the gunship.”

“I’m fine,” Ace’s rushed voice followed immediately behind Kaci’s, “Its only thre-oof!”

The Hunter’s voice cut out suddenly. Halily shouted, “Kaci! Sparrow!”

Almost instantly, the Ravensteel materialized in the street in front of the Titan. She threw a leg over and barely allowed herself time to settle into the seat before opening the throttle. Halily had almost forgotten about the extra acceleration as she had to adjust abruptly to avoid colliding with a building wall. A few seconds later, she was almost to the intersection of the street where Ace was located. She managed to time a lateral boost perfectly with a sharp turn so that she performed a near ninety degree turn onto the street. Several blocks ahead, Halily could see the Hunter getting savagely kicked by a Legionary into a building wall. There were two other Cabal troopers laying on the ground, unmoving.

Halily didn’t slow. She simply leapt off the Sparrow and slid to a stop. Kaci managed to capture the Ravensteel in a transmat beam before it could crash into anything as the Titan shouted, “Sniper rifle!”

The Veleda-D appeared in her awaiting hands. Halily raised the rifle to see Ace deliver a knife blow to the Legionary’s shoulder, but the trooper ignored the attack. The Cabal struck the smaller Guardian with a backhand blow that staggered the Hunter before activating its wrist blade. As soon as Ace was sent backward a few steps, no longer in direct line with her shot, Halily fired.

The Legionary launched himself forward with his jet pack when the Veleda’s round struck it. Ace recovered just time for the trooper’s dead bulk to crash into him. Halily cried out, “Ace! You okay?”

“I’m fine,” the Hunter groaned as he pulled himself out from under the trooper. As he brushed himself off, Ace added, “Nice shot. You probably saved my life with that. Thank you.”

Halily stammered her way through a “You’re welcome” as she replaced the rifle. She looked all about, expecting another ambush to materialize from one of the buildings or for another gunship to appear in the sky.

Mal unfolded in the space next to the Hunter’s head. The ghost commented, “Scanners show no more hostiles present in the area.”

“Let’s go let those survivors know they’re safe,” Ace replied.


	12. Chapter 12

Sparrow engines powering down, the two Guardians came to a halt in front of the besieged building. Ace immediately dismounted and moved to consider the structure. The faded lettering painted above the front door indicated that the building had been a financial institution. Golden Age security systems had shuttered heavy metal plates behind the destroyed normal glass doors. “That explains why it was able to withstand the Cabal assault for so long,” he commented.

“A bank?” Halily replied, “Reinforced doors and walls?”

“Yeah. They needed directional heavy explosives to get in.” Ace turned to Halily and commented, “You saved whoever was in there when you destroyed that charge.”

The Hunter saw her struggling to accept the praise being offered. She sounded honestly surprised to have efforts appreciated. Rather than pressing the issue and making the Titan feel even more uncomfortable, Ace decided to change the subject. He turned back to the entrance and considered the heavy steel plates. Extending a hand, the Hunter summoned Mal to inspect the security doors.

The ghost moved about the entrance, scanning the wall around the doorway’s frame before advising, “Somehow, the security system for this structure is functional. The security door was manually activated by a terminal inside. There are people in there.”

Ace took a couple steps away from the building and removed his helmet. Cupping his hand around his mouth, Ace shouted, “Hey inside! The Cabal are gone! You can come out!”

Without the helmet over his face, the Hunter’s voice sounded louder and carried further. Halily cocked her ear toward the building, listening intently for any kind of response from within. She followed Ace’s example and removed her own helmet in an attempt to hear better.

After a few moment, a voice called out from above, “It’s true! They’re gone!”

Ace glanced up in time to witness a smaller shape disappear from the rooftop. A couple moments later, the metal panels began to slide apart. The Hunter stepped toward the opening and looked inside. An empty lobby, leading from the doorway to a bay of teller windows. As he passed through the threshold, he noticed a huddled group of City survivors gathered at the far end of the room, at the bottom of a stairwell that led to the next floor above. A pair of young men holding rifles stood in front of them, weapons trained on the entrance.

The Hunter held up his hands, helmet in one and scout rifle in the other, in a nonthreatening gesture of peace. One of the riflemen lowered his weapon and exclaimed, “Oh thank goodness! They really are gone!”

Ace counted a full score of survivors in the group; men, women, and a couple children as well, all Humans. Their faces were gaunt with the early signs of starvation and their eyes had the sunken dark bags that came from several days without sleep. The Hunter was amazed that these people had the strength to stand, let alone hold a weapon and fight. Then he noticed a handful of shapes under a heavy drape on the opposite side of the room. These survivors had to fight to get into this place and repel the Cabal before they could secure it.

Many of the group rushed toward the pair of Guardians, relief shining through the exhaustion and despair on their faces. A handful stayed back. Ace and Halily focused on those who had come forward with their warm greetings and gratitude.

“You’re all welcome,” Ace responded once the refugees quieted down, “I’m just happy that we happened to be nearby when we witnessed the Cabal.”

“We have med kits and rations,” Halily quietly offered. Ace glanced over to see the Titan looking down at a pair of children clinging to their mother’s legs. The Hunter nodded at the Awoken’s generosity. The two of them could return to their base at any time to resupply.

“We don’t need your charity, purp!” a voice spat from the back of the room.

Ace looked over the heads of the group that had gathered around them to see four individuals, three men and a woman, that had chosen to stay back by the stairway. The look of disgust on their faces was apparent. Embarrassment had washed over the rest of the group as soon as the epithet had been uttered.

The Exo sighed before responding. He knew what the answer would be, but felt obligated to allow the scenario to play out like it always did. “What seems to be the problem, friend?”

A second man managed to pour a healthy amount of scorn and derision into every word, “We don’t want any help from a  _ cyber _ or a  _ purp _ .”

Ace forced himself not to roll his eyes. He didn’t want to escalate this interaction in any way. Instead, he glanced about as he pretended to not understand what the two were talking about. It was then that he noticed the honest shock and surprise on Halily’s face. She had never been accosted in such a way before. The Hunter felt an unexpected anger rising from within.

The first speaker of the group spoke again, “Yeah. You  _ puppets _ are the reason we’re all in this mess. Just get your cyber ass and purp face out of here.”

Shaking his head sadly, Ace returned his attention to the rest of the Humans in the room. The looks of embarrassment had managed to increase even more. The Hunter set his rifle on his back before holding out his now empty hand. “Mal,” he stated simply.

The knapsack of food and medical supplies that he had stashed away materialized. The Hunter set the bag down on the floor in front of the closest survivor. He pointedly ignored the seething glares from the four in the back as he loudly announced, “You all are not too far away from safety. At the foot of the mountains to the west of here, only ten klicks away, is the Farm.”

“I knew we were on the right path!” a woman announced excitedly.

“If you can stay out of sight, you should be able to make it,” Ace replied.

“Can’t you?...” the woman began.

The Hunter shook his head, “I’m sorry. We are already on a mission and need to make haste. Good luck to you all.”

Ace glanced over to see Halily set her own bag of supplies on the floor next to his. Secretly, he hoped that the Awoken had held back at least a little bit for herself. As he turned to leave, a pair of the survivors followed him while the rest of the group tore into the bags on the floor.

As they passed through the doorway, the female spoke up, “We’re really sorry about Zech and his fellows. We don’t agree with the Keepers, but we can’t abandon them either.”

Ace held up a hand to forestall any further apologies, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just sorry we weren’t here in time to save everyone.”

The two Humans glanced back to the drape covering their fallen comrades on the floor. The rifleman commented, “It’s been rough. Maybe that’s why Zech is so spun up.”

“Just get yourselves to the Farm. I’ll notify Hawthorne to have her people keep an eye out for you all. Don’t dawdle here, either,” Ace warned, deadly seriousness suddenly invading his tone, “Another group will be along to investigate what happened to this platoon soon. You all need to leave right away.”

The two Humans shared a hard look before nodding. “Thank you,” the woman replied, “We’ll get them going right away.”

Ace and Halily both offered farewell salutes before turning and walking away. As the survivors returned to their group, the Hunter overheard their harsh whispering as they immediately began making plans to evacuate. He nodded approvingly.

As Ace donned his helmet, he offered an apology to the Titan, “I’m sorry you had to hear that. Looked like this was your first run in with the Keepers.”

Halily glanced back at the building before replying, “Who are they?”

“Humans who don’t trust anyone else,” Ace explained, “Not Awoken, Exos, or even Human Guardians. They call themselves KEaP, the Keep Earth Pure society. They think Guardians and non-Humans are responsible for all of the attacks against Earth.”

“How could they think that? There would be no City without Guardians!”

“People are odd. They come up with strange and outlandish ideas when they’re scared and confused. Everyone on Earth has been scared for centuries now.”

“But they’re safe in the City,” Halily began.

Ace cut her short, “Are they?”

Halily paused a moment to consider her words, “Well, they  _ were _ . Until the Cabal came, the City has been safe for everyone.”

With a heavy sigh, Ace responded, “No, we never were. Not truly. Six Fronts. Twilight Gap. Hive swarming the Moon and giving us the Great Disaster. The ghostless know that Guardians aren’t invincible. And now we have the Red War. People have been scared without realizing it for generations.”

The Titan was quiet for a minute before she spoke up again, “What did that man call us?”

Shaking his head ruefully, the Hunter answered, “He called you a ‘purp’ because of your Awoken skin and me a ‘cyber’ because Exominds are basically cyborgs.”

“And ‘puppets’?”

“Keepers believe that all Guardians are basically being controlled by the Traveler for whatever nefarious purpose the Traveler has.”

“That makes zero sense,” Halily exclaimed, “The Traveler is now trapped and cut off by the Cabal. How could it be controlling anyone right now?”

“Like I said, outlandish,” Ace replied.

“Ridiculous,” the Titan snorted.

With a dismissive shrug, Ace commented, “That’s why their friends back there were so embarrassed.”

Halily glanced back toward the building, now many blocks behind them. “At least they were grateful.”

“They should be. You saved their lives.”

“Don’t you mean  _ we _ saved their lives?” Halily countered.

Ace chuckled as he answered, “No. I mean very much that  _ you _ saved their lives. I told you before, your quick thinking and amazing shot eliminated the bomb the Cabal were going to use to blast through that reinforced door. Then you saved  _ my _ life when you killed that Legionary who was about to give me the last hair cut I’ll ever receive.”

Halily tried to deny the praise, but Ace had Mal summon his Sparrow. The Hunter immediately leapt onto the vehicle and began revving the engine. He could still hear the Titan, but pretended that the Sparrow was too loud. He would not allow her to refuse the praise that she deserved. 

“We should get going,” Ace declared as soon as Halily gave up her protests, “Mal says that they have begun moving and we want to be away from here. You destroying that gunship is going to result in a whole bunch of trouble descending on this place.”

—————

As she raced along behind the Hunter, Halily couldn’t stop thinking about the bizarre encounter. She was aware that there were City citizens who were unhappy with their situation and were upset with the leadership, but she didn’t realize that some of it was targeted at people just because they weren’t one hundred percent “human”. She had no memory of the event that saw her become Awoken. Was she second generation, born after the Collapse? Or was she one of those first few who became Awoken during the Traveler’s clash with the Darkness? Either way, she had no control over what she was, so why would someone hate her for it?

And she was even more confused about the anger directed at Guardians. There would literally be no City without Guardians and their ability to channel the Light in defense of Humanity. And without the City, there would be no place safe for ghostless to live. These past few weeks of the Red War would have been their entire lives if not for the efforts of the Guardians.

In an effort to direct her thoughts away from such a negative subject, Halily forced herself to consider the praise that Ace had healed upon her. The Titan still felt unsure that she deserved it, but she had to admit that his logic was valid. If she hadn’t destroyed that bomb, what chance did she and Ace have of stopping those soldiers from killing the rest of the survivors?

A smile touched her lips as she remembered the hushed awe in the Hunter’s voice when he witnessed the explosion. She had no idea it would be so devastating, but admitted that she was very pleased with the result.

Halily was replaying the lucky rocket launcher shot in her mind when Ace’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “We have gunships inbound,” he announced through the comm link, “We’re going to power down and take cover.”

Glancing to the radar display in her visor, the Titan noticed the faint glow at one of the edges. They were already riding through a fairly dense grove of trees when Ace had halted. She coasted the Ravensteel up next to the Ridgerunner and dismounted. Ace deactivated the power and his Sparrow settled to the ground; Halily followed suit. “No transmat?” she asked.

“Yeah. We don’t want to risk the signal being detected and giving them something to investigate,” Ace explained. Then he moved over to the broad trunk of a nearby tree and settled comfortably onto the ground, using the tree as a back rest. “We’re going to be here for a little while while we wait for the hornets nest to settle down. May as well get comfortable.”

Halily settled onto the ground next to her Sparrow, facing the Hunter and using the vehicle as a backrest of her own. As she leaned back and stretched her legs out, the sound of approaching ships became audible. She glanced up at the thick canopy of foliage overhead. As long as the Cabal didn’t fly dangerously low, it was extremely unlikely that they would be able to spot the Guardians. Despite any comfort that knowledge gave the Titan, she was ready to spring to her feet at a moment’s notice. She suspected the same was true for Ace.


	13. Chapter 13

It only took a short few minutes for the Threshers to arrive and subsequently pass by. They were never directly overhead, nor were the Guardians even able to see them, but the gunships were close enough that the Titan could sense the anxious tension in the Hunter. Ace was silent and focused as he watched for any indications that the pair had been spotted. When nothing happened, she could see him visibly relax.

“Should we get moving?” Halily asked.

“Not yet,” Ace answered, “Let’s be sure that they don’t do anything unexpected like doubling back early.”

Nodding in agreement with the Hunter’s direction, Halily let her mind wander. She began to wonder about the fate of the refugees that they had left behind. Were they able to get out of the ruins in time to get to cover? Are they being careful enough so that they remain out of sight of the Cabal? Would the survivors have fared better if they had someone as experienced as Ace to help lead them?

The Titan suddenly broke the silence, “Hey Ace?”

“What’s up?”

“Why didn’t we just escort them to the Farm? I mean, our timetable is completely self imposed and the Farm isn’t that far away.”

Ace paused for a long moment. She could tell that he was carefully considering his words before responding. Finally, “The Keepers would have been a problem for everyone and our presence would put all of those people at risk.”

“How so?”

“They would have resisted every piece of advice that we offered and argued with any kind of direction we gave,” Ace explained, “They would have created conflicts that would have slowed everyone down. Their only hope for survival right now is to reach the Farm as quickly as possible.”

Halily digested Ace’s response for a couple minutes. She was having difficulty understanding why there would even be people that disliked Guardians in the City. After a minute, she asked, “Does it bother you?”

“Does what?”

“Being called a cyber or puppet?”

Again, Ace took a couple moments to consider his response before answering, “Not really. I know who I am and I know what we Guardians  _ really _ do for the City and the people. I can’t do anything to change the minds of a misguided few, so I don’t dwell on it.”

Again, Halily found the Hunter’s logic and reasoning to be very sound. She was unconsciously nodding along as he finished. The Titan sat in silence for a minute before she suddenly exclaimed, “Why ‘purp’? It’s so stupid. Our skin is really more blue than purple. Why not ‘blueberry’ or something more accurate?”

Ace laughed quietly at her outburst before replying, “Because some people are just stupid. But, to be fair, I’ve always felt like your skin was more purple than blue. Maybe I should have my optics factory reset.”

“Can you?”

The Hunter laughed even louder this time, “No, we can’t. Although, we Exominds honestly know very little about ourselves. Maybe we can?”

Enjoying the conversation now that the subject had suddenly changed, Halily decided to continue moving then discussion away from the previous topic. With the relative moment of calm, she was able to spare the time to take a closer look at Ace’s Gensym Knight armor. The helmet was strikingly different from standard Hunter gear in that it was completely smooth; no jutting goggles or visors. The Gensym Casque worked all of the optical relays into a smooth, full-face plate. And the rest of the armor was just as thoughtfully engineered. The cuirass had a beautiful etching across the larger chest piece that made the armor as much a work of art as a defensive necessity. It was a little difficult to make out the intricate design due to the near black veneer that the Hunter had coated the armor with, but could be seen clearly once she looked closely.

Halily had not met many Guardians who were members of the Gensym order. Even then, it was only in passing and she never had a chance to speak with them. “How long have you been pledged to the Gensym order?”

“Oh, the armor? No, I’m not an affiliate of the Gensym order,” Ace began, “This armor was a gift to me from Cayde-6. He gave it to me as a kind of ‘reward’ for a dangerous mission that I had no business going on. He just had it collecting dust in one of his stashes.”

“That’s nice,” the Titan commented.

The Hunter snorted. “If you like re-gifting. Cayde was given this as a reward for some favor he did for the Gensym Scribes. He failed to mention that it had an inscription  _ to him _ ,” Ace lifted his left arm to display the armor piece, “on the vambrace that I had to pay Glimmer to get removed.”

It was Halily’s turn to laugh heartily. “Oh man. That does sound like something Cayde would do.”

“Yeah, well, I had the etching removal done by the same artificer who applied the black veneer. He gave me a discount as apology for laughing like you just did.”

“Was the guy a fellow Guardian or someone from the City?” Halily inquired.

“A fellow Guardian?” Ace sounded surprised at the concept.

Halily let her gaze drift to the sky as she let the memories come to the front of her thoughts. “Yeah. I know of a couple Guardians who liked to do ‘side jobs’ to fill their time between doing missions or going on patrols. They both said that they really enjoyed doing something other than ‘facing down the horrors of the dark’ from time to time.”

Ace cocked his head a little to one side as he considered the concept for a moment before replying, “I know of a Warlock who became a Cryptarch. His name is Xander. At least, it was. I hope he survived.”

“A Cryptarch? Full time?”

“Yeah. He worked in the archives and found himself enjoying the challenge of puzzling out the mysteries of our lost past over- how did your friends put it? ‘Facing down the horrors of the dark’. Have you ever considered doing something like that? After all, there isn’t any kind of mandate requiring Lightbearers to become Guardians. You could become a florist if you want.”

“I never even realized that was an option. Zizi and Callisto simply enjoyed what they did. Cal was a sculptor and she was able to sell what she made to some of the richer folks in the City. Zizi loved playing around with tech and designing networks. I have no idea what I would do if I... What about you?”

The Titan watched Ace take a heavy sigh before answering, “I couldn’t do it. Not be out here in the Wild, with the danger and suspense all around me? I couldn’t. And believe me, I have thought about it ever since I met Xander,” Ace paused for a moment to take another heavy sigh. His voice took on a distant tone when he continued, “I’ve died so many times out here that I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I am tired of it. As much as I love it, I have grown so very tired. But I can’t stop. That’s why I’m here right now. If I gave up the Wild, I would go mad.”

Halily sympathized with Ace’s conundrum. She could hear in his voice how exhausted the Hunter was. But if he truly loved the thrill of the Wild such that he couldn’t give it up, then Ace was in an impossible position. She felt herself identifying with it. The Titan often felt inadequate for the role and responsibility laid upon her as a Guardian. She was convinced that she had been a burden on her teammates as she was certain that she was the weak link in their group. However, if Halily stopped going on missions and fighting for the people of the City, then she would be an even bigger disappointment. Kaci would have resurrected someone that wouldn’t fulfill the role. So she fought.

This was why she had sometimes begged Kaci to stop reviving her. Why she felt that Kaci had made a mistake. If her ghost stopped reviving her, maybe they could find someone else to resurrect and make into a Lightbearer. Someone better. 

“How about it?” Ace’s voice cut through her train of thought, “You could have a life as something other than a Guardian. You don’t  _ have _ to keep fighting. And maybe then you wouldn’t need to consider jumping off of a roof.”

The Titan felt her face flush with embarrassment. It was the first time that he had come out and said anything about the other day. Her first instinct was to shut down and ignore the comment, but she realized that Ace wasn’t trying to discuss the event directly. Halily considered the question for a few moments and finally answered, “I’m certain that I would go crazy, too. Probably not as quickly as you would, but just an inevitably. I would feel guilty for not using my Light to defend the City and Humanity. The guilt would eat me alive.”

Ace nodded, “That’s fair. I sometimes think that exact trait is something that our ghosts look for when choosing their Guardian. Something inside of us that ensures that the gift of their Spark isn’t wasted.”

“What about your friend? The Cryptarch?”

“Who said that his ghost’s Spark was wasted?” Ace quickly countered with a wry chuckle. Halily was about to protest when the Hunter suddenly added, “We should get moving again. It doesn’t look like we have to worry about those gunships any more.”

Halily wanted to protest, but she wasn’t certain what she would be protesting against. As the Hunter activated his Sparrow’s anti-grav drive, she rose to her feet and turned around to do the same. The Titan knew that she would be considering this conversation for a long time.

—————

The next couple of hours passed uneventfully for the two Guardians as they completed their trek to the airfield. Ace noticed that Halily was much more quiet and wondered if she had been insulted by his suggestions or if he had said something wrong. However, the more he reviewed the conversation, the more certain he became that she was merely considering new possibilities that were being presented to her.

Ace mentally snorted at the thought of taking any paths other than a warrior during this time. They were all refugees now and that would be their lives until the Cabal were defeated. The Hunter felt an unexpected surge of anger at that thought; that their potential futures had been closed off to them and stolen. As the airfield came into view, Ace shook off the extraneous thoughts and refocused on the task at hand.

The Titan and Hunter were stopped at the edge of a thicket situated on a slope, looking down upon the Cabal airfield. The installation had been built in the center of a natural bowl, surrounded on all sides by large hills. The depression was very level and marred only by a large stream that served to direct any water that flowed down from the slopes to the nearby river. The bowl was also clear of any obscuring vegetation. The Cabal had cleared everything away.

Ace swore quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Halily turned from her observation of the installation.

“There’s no cover down there,” the Hunter complained, “It used to be full of trees and bushes before they paved the whole damn thing.”

“At least we can easily see everything from here,” the Titan remarked.

Ace paused at that comment. It was true that they could easily see any traffic coming and going, as well as the movement of soldiers and equipment. But that same openness meant that the two Guardians would have a much more difficult time approaching the air field undetected.

“I wonder if the Cabal destroy planets just because they wanted a clearer view of the next one,” the Hunter quipped.

Mal’s voice filled the comm link, “That definitely sounds like something they would do. Didn’t they almost weaponize Phobos?”

“Okay, so what is our plan?” Halily interjected before Ace could make another joke.

Ace paused to consider the question. “Well, the plan  _ was  _ to use trees as cover to get as close as possible on foot and figure out the best spot for infiltration from there,” he finally answered.

Halily turned and pointedly looked down the slope to the empty fields surrounding the Cabal base before replying, “Okay. We’ve done the first part.”

_ Did she just make a joke? _ Ace thought to himself. He wished he could tell if she was smirking behind her helmet to confirm it. He had to admit it was a pretty good joke.

“Cabal love routine,” the Titan continued, “Cogs in a machine. We should be able to figure out their patrol schedule from here.”

Ace placed his hand on his hips as he muttered, “Great. I didn’t have ‘stakeout’ on our to-do list for the day. Stakeouts are boring as hell.” The Hunter paused for a minute as he considered the terrain around the airfield. The bowl was easily a handful of kilometers across in all directions with slopes of varying gradient all about. He pointed to a hillside with a much steeper incline near the opposite side of the base, “I’ll go post up over there and keep an eye on things. Let’s try to maintain radio silence as much as possible to avoid potential detection.”

“Sounds good,” Halily nodded before summoning her ghost and commenting, “Come on, Kaci. You’re going to be pulling your weight on this one.”

Ace smiled at the playful tone between the Titan and her ghost as he mounted his Sparrow. It was always warming to witness the signs of a good relationship between a Guardian and their partner. He carried the smile as he raced away from the lookout.


	14. Chapter 14

Carefully weaving his Ridgerunner through the trees and underbrush, Ace made his way to the ridge. No longer feeling as much pressure to make haste, the Hunter took it easy on the accelerator. His ghost quickly noticed the change of pace.

“Not interested in hurrying up to wait?” Mal observed.

Ace offered a halfhearted shrug as he made a leisurely curve around a small thicket. “It’s like I said, stakeouts are boring.”

“At least you’re actually doing the stakeout instead of just rushing in,” the ghost replied, “So I have to ask, who are you and what have you done with my Guardian?”

“Hey now, that’s not fair,” The Hunter argued, “I may not make the most intricate of plans when I go on missions, but I usually have something in mind before I dive in.”

Mal’s voice took on a much more somber tone, “Not lately, Ace. You’ve become increasingly more reckless every day since the invasion. For example, you went into the City without any idea of where the patrols were positioned. And then you rushed the building for the module without any recon at all.”

Ace slowed down as he considered his ghost’s comments. He admitted that his decision to retrieve the equipment for Nutbar was rash, the Hunter knew that he would have been able to fight his way out of any trouble he came across. The invaders occupying the City were mostly concentrated in a handful of key areas while control of the rest was handled by patrols. However, there was always the chance that he could have found himself caught between multiple patrol groups or engaging in a pitched fight too close to Cabal aerial support. However, the Hunter had felt confident in his ability to find cover in the area he had infiltrated.

“Then there was the Cabal patrol group outside of Trostland that you ambushed a week ago,” Mal continued, “You had no idea if they had any armor support groups in the area or not. You almost got killed when a Thresher surprised us. And that particular patrol group hadn’t even been our target.”

There was no argument that Ace could offer as he looked back at his last few outings and realized that Mal was correct. Every time the Hunter went out alone, he behaved extremely cavalier. If he went on patrol with any of the others, he would never behave so recklessly. Was he only acting with caution right now because Halily was with him? He was silent for several minutes as he piloted the Ridgerunner through the forest before responding.

“You’re right, Mal,” Ace began, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone into the City like that. It was a dumb move.”

It was Mal’s turn to be silent for a few moments before replying, “It turned out okay. It did mean that we were close enough to receive Kaci’s message in time.”

Ace nodded quietly, still feeling chagrined by the revelation. He had been aware of aware of his growing dissatisfaction and overwhelming weariness, but he hadn’t acknowledged the recklessness growing within. Had he been subconsciously attempting to set himself up to fail? Had he been just as close to committing a different kind of suicide as Halily? In retrospect, seen through the lens of unbiased honesty, it was obvious.

Obvious, and yet he had been completely unaware. It was terribly disquieting. The Hunter was silent for the remainder of the trip.

As he eased the Sparrow to a stop at his designated lookout point, Ace held out a hand. Mal materialized in the air above his open palm. The ghost’s cuboid frame whirled a couple times around its central orb as it waited, unsure of why it had been summoned. The Exo removed his helmet and looked the ghost in its singular eye. Finally, he spoke, “I am sorry for how I have been these last few weeks. When this is over, I will take a break.”

Mal bobbed in the air, performing its own kind of nod in reply, “Talk with the others, Ace. They’ve been worried, too.”

The Hunter was surprised at that comment. “What do you mean?”

The ghost glanced away as if embarrassed to answer, “I’m not the only one who has seen your actions as excessively reckless. Samus. Mike. Nutbar. They are all worried.”

Ace blinked a few times as he processed the comment. He didn’t think that anyone other than Mal, who knew him so intimately, would have noticed. Or that they would have even cared enough to notice. Perhaps he had not realized the depth of the relationship that had grown between himself and the others. Having lost friends like Deoxys and others, the Hunter had tried to avoid growing attached to anyone else. Especially in the wake of the Red War, Guardians died their final death every day out here in the Wild.

“Hey, Mal. What’s the status of the Kais?” Ace suddenly asked as he replaced his helmet. He had staunchly avoided inquiring about companions that he had grown attached to because he was afraid to find out. Afraid to admit that he truly cared more than he wanted to. Kaijae and Kaizyn ranked at the top of that list.

The ghost tilted to one side before answering, “Last reported, they are well. Currently on Titan with Commander Zavala. Why?”

“I don’t... I just needed to know. Let’s get on with this stakeout.”

—————

Halily had sat down on the ground at the foot of a sizable tree, comfortably leaning back against the trunk. She dutifully watched the Cabal moving about in the airfield below, using the powerful scope on her Veleda-D to bridge the distance for her. However, she paid more attention to the sound of incoming ships to make sure that they were not at risk of being spotted.

“You did really well back there,” Kaci suddenly offered a while after Ace had left.

Lowering her rifle to look up at the ghost, the Titan replied, “It wasn’t anything special. It was more luck than anything.”

Kaci continued to focus on the Cabal base, but responded, “That was a crack shot when you destroyed the bomb. Pretty sure that alone saved every refugee in that building.”

Looking down to the rifle in her lap, Halily considered the shot she had made. In the moment, she didn’t think that she was putting over a dozen lives on the line with her shot. Honestly, if she had known how much was on the line, the Titan was almost certain that she would have frozen up and been unable to attempt it.

“It was nothing,” she finally mumbled. 

Kaci abruptly turned away from observing the airfield to focus her eye on the Titan. Her spheroid shell jerked and twitched in agitation as the ghost exclaimed, “It was not ‘nothing’ to those people.”

Halily was surprised by the sudden vehemence in her partner. Kaci was normally one of those ghosts that would just hover nearby and remain mostly quiet, speaking only when required. That this conversation had been initiated by her at all was completely out of character. 

The ghost turned back to her task as she continued, “That shot was everything to them. And  _ you _ made it. I don’t understand why you doubt yourself and sell yourself short like this. Ace believes in you, he told you so himself. Garrick and Paris tried to make you understand, but they let you hide yourself behind the team. I chose an amazing Guardian.”

Several moments of quiet passed as Kaci continued to catalogue the movements of the Cabal soldiers below. Finally, Halily broke the silence, “It was pretty great to see that Thresher get blown out of the sky by my rocket.”

“Right?” Kaci replied excitedly, still focused on his he airfield, “I couldn’t believe how the rocket managed to hit the engine like that. Can you imagine the look that must have been on Ace’s face when it happened?”

“I’m sure he probably had an idea of some kind to deal with it.”

“Right. What was he going to do? Throw his knife at it?”

Halily giggled at the mental image invoked by Kaci’s comment. After a few seconds, she finally replied, “He does have that impressive machine gun, a Thunderlord.”

Kaci responded with the ghost equivalent of a snort, “Yeah and shooting down a gunship with it would have taken pretty much his entire ammunition supply. Halily, Ace is a very good Guardian, but don’t rely on him so much. You are just as great.”

Halily smiled as she picked up the sniper rifle from her lap and returned to reconnoiter. Her shoulders sagged a little less as she leaned her head down to look through the scope.

—————

The sky was beginning to darken with the first signs of an oncoming twilight when Mal announced, “I think we have all the data that we need.”

Ace had tried to be dutiful about observing the Cabal, but the task had grown too tedious after the first couple hours. He was too far away for even his enhanced Exomind optics to be of much use. And he had failed to bring along any equipment that would have aided him in piercing the distance. It had served as a subtle reminder of the Hunter’s conversation with Mal about his growing recklessness.

“Really? That’s good to hear,” Ace responded, standing up from the collection of huts he had built with twigs and leaves. Looking down at the makeshift village on the ground, he whispered, “Farewell, Awesomeville. May your banner forever fly high.”

Mal gave a little shake of its shell, the ghost equivalent of an eye roll, before it continued, “We should return to the other site. It is closest to the most ideal avenue of approach.”

As he activated the Ridgerunner’s power system, Ace noted the waypoint marker appear at the edge of his visor. It was located at a lower point in the surrounding rim, where two hillsides combined and formed a ridge down into the plain. It was at this point that the stream began, collecting rain water and funneling mountain snowmelt from the peaks behind it. Ace’s optics followed the stream’s route downslope to the river that cut through the bowl, passing close to the airstrip.

“Halily is moving to the waypoint,” Mal commented, “She should be there a few minutes before us.”

The Hunter ignored the comment and focused instead on the river traveling through the valley below. After a few moments, he asked, “What’s our insertion plan, Mal?”

“When was the last time you checked the hermetic sealing system of your armor?” the ghost replied.

Ace groaned softly and opened the throttle, accelerating quickly toward the marker. He knew that his armor’s seals were perfectly functional, he just did not look forward to running about with a waterlogged cloak. “I hate when my guns get wet,” he muttered.

—————

Halily looked up at the sound of Ace’s approaching Sparrow. She had spent the last couple minutes letting Kaci perform a complete diagnostic of her armor. The Devastation Complex equipment was like any other set of Guardian gear in that it was rated rated for functionality in any environment, even the vacuum of space, but she had never had the occasion to test it.

“Everything checks out,” Kaci announced as Ace glided his Ridgerunner to a stop next to the Titan.

The Hunter nodded an acknowledgement before turning to regard his own ghost. Mal increased his volume as he addressed the entire group, “We’ve identified a handful of holes in their patrol groups that could be used to infiltrate the base. The one that offers the highest likelihood of success will come in an hour. If we leave now, you two can be in position in time to take advantage of it.”

Halily could hear Ace’s heavy sigh before he replied, “Let’s get moving, then.”

Kaci then spoke up, “This ridge will provide sufficient cover down the slope for you to be able to take your Sparrows. Especially now that it is getting dark.”

“We had better get going,” Ace commented as he turned the vehicle’s nose toward the indicated path down the hillside.

The Titan followed closely behind as the Hunter led the way down. The stream that ate into the hillside behind the ridge was only a few meters from their starting position and already sizable. It was late in the Fall season and periodic rains had caused the creek to swell. Ace piloted his Sparrow over to the stream itself and raced down over the water. At first, she questioned the wisdom of such a route, but quickly realized that it made sense. It was trenched even deeper behind the ridge, so it provided excellent cover. And the water covered most of the obstacles, which made for a very smooth trip down to the bottom.

As they reached the base of the hillside, Ace came to a halt. The creek continued for a hundred meters before emptying into the larger river. “How’s our timing, Mal?” he asked.

The ghost answered, “It’s pretty good. Wait a couple minutes and you will be fine. Halily will have enough oxygen to get her to the point on the embankment that you need to reach.”

The Awoken was about to ask about Ace’s oxygen supply when she remembered. As an Exomind, he didn’t need oxygen. His body was created with a facsimile set of lungs that gave the perception of breathing, but their only true purpose was helping Exominds accept their reality inside the robotic bodies. Ace did not actually breath.

Kaci’s voice then came over the comm relay, “The current will take you to the spot you need. Just let it carry you and you’ll be fine.”

Halily pictured herself, in a suit of heavy armor, trying to swim in the current of a river. It was insanity. “That’s easy for you to say, Kaci. This gear is going to have me walking on the riverbed more than I could possible swim. None of you have to worry about drowning.”

“I understand,” Kaci quickly replied, “And if you are in any danger, I’ll have the ship transmat you back up.”

“Along with twenty gallons of river water. I’ll just make sure not to trip in there or else we’ll have to repair a waterlogged jumpship,” the Titan muttered.

Mal’s voice announced, “It’s time. You should get going. Leave the Sparrows and go on foot.”

The pair of Guardians immediately hopped off their vehicles and stepped into the water. Despite the insulating padding and clothes under the heavy armor plating, the water’s chill was biting as she waded, hip deep, through the water. Halily briefly entertained a strong concern about the possibility of hypothermia once they submerged. Did the ghosts forget that they can no longer perform a full revive of a Guardian in order to effect a full recovery of something like hypothermia or an illness?

The thought passed after a couple minutes as her lower body became accustomed to the colder temperature. She didn’t experience any indicators of any debilitating effects. As long as the river remained the same temperature as the stream, she believed she could manage fine.

Ace suddenly froze in place. Halily followed suit, lowering her self further into the water in order to better hide. Tall grass covered everything of the valley floor that wasn’t the Cabal base and airfield. The field swayed with the breeze as the sound of flowing water filled the air. The Titan could not hear any kind of alarm or any other indication that the two had been spotted by the Cabal. Honestly, she would have been amazed if the soldiers had managed to see the Guardians as she couldn’t even see the base from in the middle of the stream. She only knew where the airfield was situated was because of the spotlights creating pillars of light that rose up to the heavens.

“Thresher is lifting off,” Ace whispered, “I can hear the engine powering up.”

Halily strained to focus and, after a moment, was able to barely detect the increasing sound of powerful engines in the distance. She looked past the crouching Hunter and commented, “We’re close enough to the river that we could be underwater before that gunship reaches the sky.”

“Good point. Let’s hurry.”

Putting words into action, Ace rushed toward the confluence. Staying as low in the water as possible, he half swam as much as he ran. Halily did the same, following in his wake. The two reached the river a minute later, sliding into the deeper water just as the gunship lifted off.

The water’s current wasn’t very strong as Halily practically laid on the rocky bottom, a couple meters below the surface, waiting for the Thresher to pass over. Silt, stirred up by the Guardians’ disturbance of the riverbed, swirled all around and made it impossible to see anything in the deepening gloom. Dusk had settled in and there soon wouldn’t be enough light to see above water, much less below.

A few moments later, Mal announced, “The Thresher is gone. Unable to detect any other ships active at this time.”

Halily put her feet beneath her and stood up. A few steps up the bed brought he head above the surface. She could taste the fresher air, along with a hint of moisture, rushing into her helmet’s filter. As soon as she was sure that her suit’s air supply had been topped off, Halily went back underwater.

The water’s clarity had returned, but it was still far too dark for the Titan to see more than a couple feet in front of her. Kaci must have realized this as a pair of markers suddenly appeared in her visor. One was several hundred meters ahead; the point in the river where they needed to exit. The other was a couple meters in front of her, moving erratically; Ace navigating the river’s rocky bed.

It took a few moments, but Halily quickly figured out a way to navigate traveling underwater in her heavy Guardian armor. Despite the relative weakness of the current, it was still there and it moved toward the airfield. The Titan moved toward the deeper center of the river, where the current was strongest, and let the water carry her forward. It reminded her of moving about it low gravity, where her steps became great leaps. Her only concern was making sure that she slowed her progress and made her way back to the shallow water before she went too far.

As she made swift progress along the river, she managed to overtake and pass Ace. Halily could barely make out the Hunter’s shape in the water’s extreme gloom; her helmet’s vision-enhancing equipment the only reason she could see anything at all. The Titan could see that he was struggling with the current grabbing hold of his large cloak, trying to drag him along and spin him about. Halily smirked, thinking about all the times she overhead Hunters bragging about their flashy cloaks.


	15. Chapter 15

Halily managed to get to shallower water in advance of the exit point. She almost surfaced too soon due to a brief moment of sudden claustrophobia, when she was still a hundred meters away and felt that the air she was breathing was getting thin. The pressure from the water all around her had made breathing much more difficult that she anticipated, so when the air began to seem less oxygenated, she started to panic. Fortunately, Kaci calmed her down immediately.

“Halily! Calm down.” the ghost’s soothing tone filled the Titan’s helmet, “You’re okay.”

“I can’t breath!”

“It’s fine. You still have oxygen. You don’t need to surface yet.”

Halily had started to move toward shallower water in alarm, making her way toward the surface. “I think I need to transmat! Kaci, I can’t breath!”

“You’re getting close to the exit point, so it’s good that you head to shallower water, but you have enough oxygen still,” the ghost continued; her persistent calming tone beginning to affect the Titan.

As she scaled up the bed with every watery leap, the pressure compressing Halily’s chest began to ease up. Each breath became easier to manage and she was able to take deeper, more complete inhalations. The claustrophobic panic quickly began to fade.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t calculate for the water pressure,” Kaci apologized, “The forced shorter breaths were causing oxygen deprivation and I should have had you move to shallower water sooner.”

The air still tasted stale with every inhalation, but she immediately felt better after only the first handful of full breaths. “I’m sorry that I almost lost it like that,” Halily replied.

“You’re almost to the exit point and ahead of time,” Kaci responded.

Fear gripped the Titan anew as she wondered how much longer she would need to remain underwater. It had only been a few minutes, less than half an hour, but it may as well have been an entire year as far as Halily was concerned. She was ready to leave the river. “Can I surface? I really need fresh air.”

“Soon,” Kaci answered, “The patrol is nearby and may detect you if you go up now.”

The Titan forced herself to calm down and moved even closer toward the shore while remaining submerged. Eventually, she was laying across the rocky bottom again with only a meter of water above her. The current near the shore was practically nonexistent so Halily was able to maintain her position effortlessly.

“Ace has just arrived,” Kaci announced a minute later, “He’s making his way to the shallows now, but you are safe to slowly exit the water. Do not splash. The river is quiet here.”

Halily rose up cautiously until her helmet broke the water’s surface and then began a semi-crawl toward the shore. She stayed low to the ground as she clambered up the bank so that the water clinging to her armor didn’t make any excessive noise as it fell. The Titan managed to remain quiet as she made her way up the sandy bank toward the tall grass.

Staying low as she slid into a patch of growth, Halily paused to appreciate the fresh air refilling the space inside her helmet. As she did, the Titan turned about in time to watch Ace similarly crawl out of the water. The Hunter’s waterlogged cloak dragged across the ground behind him. A smile crossed her face as she heard Ace quietly grumbling to himself about the state of his accoutrement.

“Just you wait until we free the Traveler. Then I’m going to come back and singlehandedly destroy this base,” the Hunter muttered as he tried to wring the water out of his mantle. “I’m going to Golden Gun all of your fuel tanks. Then I’m going to use my Arc Staff to smash your bunker. And finally, I’ll use my Shadowshot to tether your gunships and... and...”

“Run out of ideas?” Halily whispered.

“No. Opposite,” Ace hissed in response. “I have  _ too many _ good ideas.”

Mal’s voice cut in, “As cathartic as that may be, you two need to get moving. Your window for entering the base has just opened. Move fast.”

“Like I’m going to be able to move fast with this fifty pound dead weight on my back,” the Hunter groused.

Halily stifled a giggle as she rose to her feet and began moving. Despite his complaints, Ace managed to get his waterlogged cloak under control and was right behind her. The Ghosts gave her a new marker in her view to help guide the Guardians to the appropriate location. The Titan clutched her hand cannon to her chest as she moved, doubled over so that she didn’t tower over the grass.

It was a little over three hundred meters from the river to the nearest marker. Kaci had selected a large pile of supply crates at the edge of the airfield. The containers were stacked neatly in a small tower on the pavement. Halily sprinted the last twenty meters from where the field ended to the point of cover. Pressing her back against the large boxes, the Titan allowed herself a moment to relish the fact that she was no longer hunched over.

As Ace joined her, Halily peaked around the corner of the pile. The airfield’s control bunker was also at the edge of the airfield, only a short few meters away. The building was circular in shape with a flat roof. The main entrance was located at the center, directly onto the middle of the strip, while the supply cache was off to the side. She knew that the bunker’s apparent size was deceptive as it mostly buried underground and only the topmost level was above ground. This structure was capable of quartering dozens of troopers as well as housing the equipment needed to keep the airfield functioning.

“A patrol is moving away from our position,” Ace whispered.

Halily glanced back to see the Hunter at the opposite end of the crates, also peering at the Cabal installation. She turned back to the airfield and spotted the Cabal soldiers that Ace mentioned. There were six of the larger troopers walking away from the bunker, toward the far side. The Titan quickly scanned the entire length of the strip, but did not see any Threshers. The Cabal did have a trio of Harvesters on the ground; the transport ships appeared to be powered down completely as they were undergoing some kind of maintenance. The ships were too far away for Halily to see what was being worked on. Seeing that all visible Cabal personnel were moving away from the bunker, the Titan turned her attention back to the building. 

“What’s our insertion plan, Mal?” Ace’s voice came through the comm relay in a whisper.

“The same as always, Ace,” Mal’s tone sounded exasperated. Halily imagined the Ghost performing a facsimile eye roll with his central orb. He continued, “Ventilation duct located on the top of the bunker. These things are the same everywhere and you know it.”

Halily could detect the faint sound of suppressed laughter over the comm link. Mal wasn’t wrong, though. The Cabal seemingly used the exact same building design at every one of their support facilities. Major bases would be custom built to suit their general purpose and the landscape, but these bunkers were seemingly dropped from heavy carriers and buried into the ground.

“All right, I’m done teasing,” Ace relented before turning to Halily. “There’s a pair of ventilation ducts that we can access on the roof of the bunker, near the rear. Follow me.”

“Move fast,” Kaci added. “We have three minutes before the nearest patrol comes into range of detecting you.”

The Hunter rushed past the Titan, toward the bunker’s wall. She let him move a few steps ahead before following, unsure of how he intended to reach the top of the structure. Ace didn’t slow in his run and simply leapt straight up as soon as he was a meter away from the wall. Even though he no longer had the ability to Boost and perform a mid-air jump, the Hunter was still able to jump high enough to reach the edge of the roof with both hands.

Every Guardian had been a Lightbearer for as long as they knew. Whatever they were before being Reborn was gone. Even those who had clues to tell them who they had been in their previous life; identification cards and personal data pads, they were no longer that person. They had no memory of anything before the moment of their revival. A Guardian was literally born anew when their Ghost used their Spark to ignite the Light within.

Halily had always had her abilities until the Traveler was ensnared by the Cabal. She never knew of a time when she couldn’t use her Lift ability to propel herself up into the air. So she had immediately assumed that she was no longer capable of reaching such heights once her power had been stripped away. Seeing Ace make a simple jump and then hoist himself up onto the rooftop was like flipping a switch.

“You’re shitting me,” the Titan muttered.

“What’s that?” Ace asked from his perch atop the bunker.

She ignored him as she made her own jump. Halily managed to get both hands on the rooftop, but stopped there. Her Devastation Complex gear was significantly heavier than the Ace’s Hunter armor. She struggled to pull herself from the dangling position.

“Shit!” the Titan exclaimed. Just as one of her gloved hands began to slip, Ace suddenly was there, clasping her by the wrist and helping lift.

The little bit of assistance was all Halily needed. She swung her body into the Hunter’s lift and managed to get one elbow up onto the roof. Once she had the leverage, the Titan was able to scramble up the rest of the way on her own.

“Thanks,” Halily managed to gasp out.

—————

Ace was inspecting the ventilation grate when he heard the Titan swear. He wanted to make sure that the Cabal hadn’t made any nasty, unexpected enhancements to the covering. At the sound of Halily’s cry, the Hunter spun around to see her two hands gripping the edge. Realizing that she was struggling to haul up the heavier weight of her Titan armor, Ace rushed to Halily’s aid.

Bracing his feet at the lip, the Hunter reached down and grasped the Titan’s nearest hand at the wrist. He could feel her weight shift as he began pull up. Ace didn’t even have to lift with much of his strength to get Halily to the point where she could get an arm onto the rooftop. Once she reached that point, she was able to clamber the rest of the way on her own. Ace immediately returned to the ventilation grate. They had lost precious time and he was now in a rush.

Deciding that the wire mesh didn’t look any different from any of the others he had broken into, Ace whipped out a knife. He deftly slid the blade into the tiny gap between the covering’s frame and the duct housing. With a swift jerk against the handle, the grate popped open. He caught it with one hand while snatching the knife with the other.

“Thirty seconds,” Mal commented.

He ignored the Ghost. Ace hadn’t seen any traps or alarms around the housing and frame, but he was concerned that there might something inside. Guardians had been infiltrating these bunkers a lot over the last few weeks and it was only a matter of time before the Cabal took appropriate steps. The Hunter ducked his head in and scanned the ductwork closest to the grate. A small gray box, not quite the same color as the ventilation material, caught his eye.

“Mal, we have a sensor,” Ace hissed.

“What? Oh no. Let me see,” Mal replied as it materialized in front of the Hunter.

Ace tried not to count the seconds as Mal scanned the module. Instead, he motioned for Halily to get close. They both would need to move swiftly as soon as the Ghost finished dealing with the alarm.

After a few seconds, Mal projected a tiny beam of light at the sensor and announced, “Disabled. Move!”

Ace patted Halily on the shoulder, indicating that he wanted her to go in first. The Titan didn’t hesitate and immediately lowered herself into the duct. As she crawled deeper in, Ace slipped inside as well, pausing to close the grate behind him.

The ventilation duct was fairly large in comparison to Human installations. Ace could not help but make the comparison every time he found himself in one of them. In a ductwork for any Human building, he would be lucky if his body could fit at all, even while crawling on his belly. But these Cabal facilities were large enough that the two Guardians were able to move about while merely crouched. The Exo assumed that the difference was due to much larger size of the invaders. The Cabal practically towered over Guardians at an average eight feet in height. Plus, the militant race seemed to live by the creed, “Bigger is better.”

It was a very short, single meter drop from the duct’s opening to where it turned to run horizontally. Halily had moved a few steps in, but then she stopped and waited for direction. She must not have been the one to infiltrate the Cabal base to obtain the code needed for her team’s mission, Ace realized.

His Ghost hovered in the air between the two Guardians, the cuboid frame around the central orb twitched slightly as Ace approached. The Hunter looked directly at the Ghost and commented, “Mal, when we get out of here, make sure to spread the news that Cabal are beginning to pay closer attention to their ventilation systems.”

Mal looked down at the floor of the duct, contrite, “Maybe using the same infiltration method every time wasn’t such a great idea?”

Ace merely shrugged and looked past the Ghost to Halily, “Keep moving to the end. Ignore any of the other grates. We need a room with a console.”

The Titan nodded and turned about to move in the indicated direction. She had unholstered her hand cannon and held it at the ready as she moved. Mal dematerialized as Ace managed to unsling the shotgun from his back. The Ghosts had been able to piece together the patrol routines outside, but they had no idea what was going on inside the bunker.


	16. Chapter 16

The Hunter stayed close behind Halily as she made her way through the ventilation system to the end indicated by the Hunter. He noticed that she was taking care to place her feet carefully so that she didn’t make any excessive noise and nodded to himself, approvingly. His waterlogged cloak, despite him wringing it out multiple times, felt like it weighed an extra ten kilos as it dragged on the floor behind him.

“What are the odds that the room is empty when we get there?” Ace whispered.

“Pretty good, actually,” Mal quickly answered. “Broadcast chatter to and from this base has been remarkably quiet, which means that the Bracus in charge here is away.”

“I wonder where he’s gone off to,” Ace mused.

“Probably got called in to report to Thumos after Ghelan lost six Threshers,” Mal offered.

“I wonder how pissed he is going to be when he learns that they lost another gunship today,” Halily giggled.

“Who? Thumos or whoever is in charge of this base?” Ace inquired.

“Yes,” Halily answered.

The Hunter grinned as he continued crouch-walking through the duct. He would have laughed, but he caught himself and suppressed it. It was then that he noticed that Halily had halted. Ace craned his neck to one side to see why she had stopped and noticed that they had reached one of the junctions. A large grate covered the floor panel.

“What’s wrong” Ace whispered. “This isn’t the exit we want.”

“There’s a Psion in the hallway below us,” Halily replied.

Fear gripped the Hunter. Psions were physically less imposing than the rest of the Cabal; being even smaller in stature than most Guardians, but they were much more dangerous. They were capable of using their mind as a weapon, wielding it in the same way that a Sunbreaker wields their hammer. Quite literally.

“Shit. That security module was only the start,” Ace commented. “They’re taking our infiltrations very seriously. We are not going to find any command terminals that are unguarded.”

“I agree, Ace,” Mal replied. “However, we don’t need a console with command protocols. For our needs, any connection to the Cabal network will suffice.”

“That’s a relief,” Halily muttered quietly as she slipped away from the opening. Ace gripped his shotgun tightly, worried that any slip would draw attention from the Psion.

Fortunately, the Titan was able to remain silent as she moved. The two Guardians crouched in position as they waited for the Cabal engineer to move. Ace was grateful that he didn’t actually breathe; he didn’t have to worry about his fear causing an audible irregularity. It was then that he noticed that Halily appeared exceptionally calm. There was no trembling of her hands or catches in her breathing. He suspected that she had significantly more experience dealing with the Cabal than he did.

After a few moments of waiting, Halily softly announced, “It’s leaving.”

“Thank goodness,” Ace replied. Even whispering, he could hear the sense of relief coming through in his own voice.

“Halily, there is a regular terminal in the room to our left,” Mal commented. “The likelihood of it being guarded is much smaller.”

The Titan moved forward to the junction in the ductwork and turned toward the room as instructed. Ace followed close behind, listening carefully for the potential sound of more Cabal soldiers below. While he was unnerved by the presence of a Psion, the Hunter was even more concerned about what it represented. He worried about what other unexpected surprises might await them.

“Halily, wait,” Ace suddenly spoke up.

The Titan halted and looked over her shoulder, “What is it?”

“Don’t open the grate right away,” the Hunter answered.

“What’s wrong?” Mal’s voice filled the comm link.

“I just have a feeling,” Ace answered.

A few moments later, Halily announced, “I’m there.”

Ace unsheathed a knife and, holding it by the blade, tapped the handle against Halily’s boot. “Use this to pry it open,” he instructed.

He felt the blade leave his hand as Halily took it. Ace tried to watch her attempt to open the duct screen, but it was too cramped. However, he needn’t have worried as the Titan was able to quickly identify the latch inside the frame and slide the slender blade into the space between the frame and the housing to unhook the latch. The grate swung down silently.

“Nice work,” Ace congratulated. “Now go go go.”

Halily quickly dropped through the opening, into the room waiting below. Ace followed immediately after and looked back up as soon as his feet touched the floor.

“Mal!” the Hunter whispered harshly. “Another security module!”

“Another one?” Mal asked, incredulously. “Okay. Hold on.”

“No time,” Ace interrupted. “We had to have tripped that sensor as soon as we opened that grate. They know we are here. Can you lock the door?”

“The door? Yes!” Mal materialized in front of Ace and swiftly flew to the data pad next to the door. A beam of light from the Ghost’s central orb washed over the pad.

Ace turned back to Halily, about to instruct her to begin working on the terminal, but found her already at the station with Kaci. Instead, he looked about the room to take stock of their position. The chamber was fairly small as far as Cabal rooms were concerned. The ventilation opening had dropped them in the very center as the duct traveled through the middle of the ceiling. There were many boxes, each about a cubic meter in size, piled up against the wall opposite from the doorway. The computer terminal was built into an adjacent wall, surrounded by an array of display monitors.

“Keep working on getting the information we need,” Ace instructed. “I’ll slow them down if they get that door open.”

The Hunter then lifted one of the boxes and carried it to the doorway where Mal was furiously trying to engage the lock. Ace could tell from the frantic spinning of the Ghost’s frame that it was working hard at the task. He rushed back to grab another heavy box.

“Done!” Mal declared as Ace set the second box atop the first. “Their security code is laughably simple.”

“Isn’t it?” Kaci called out from the other end of the chamber.

“Yeah. I got in without a problem. It was actually finding the lock mechanism protocols tha-”

“Fascinating,” Ace dryly interrupted. “Maybe you can go help Kaci so that Halily can come help me.”

Mal swiftly flew over to join the other Ghost scanning the Cabal computer terminal. Halily ran up to Ace and asked, “How can I help?”

“We’re barricading the door,” the Hunter explained. “If they get that open, I don’t want them to have the chance of a clean shot at any of us.”

As soon as Ace finished speaking, a tremendous crash sounded from the large door. The Hunter set another heavy box down and then shouted at the two Ghosts, “We’re going to need to speed this up!”

“We’re on the right path,” Mal announced. “Kaci is quite deft at navigating the Cabal network.”

“Thank you,” Kaci replied, the spherical Ghost’s voice managed to sound strained. “They’re trying to keep us out. Mal, try accessing other systems to throw them off.”

“On it,” Mal exclaimed.

Ace had only half-listened to the exchange as he focused on constructing the barricade. Halily had wordlessly made the effort into a bucket brigade; she brought the containers to Ace so that he could place them where he wanted. As the door began to groan under the strain of whatever was hammering on the other side, the two Guardians had managed to construct a multiple layer pile of heavy, metal boxes in front of it. It would not stop any of the regular soldiers, Ace knew, but that wasn’t his goal. Once they got the doors open, the barricade would give the Hunter and Titan a place to open fire from. He had arranged the pile so that there was space for each of the Guardians to open fire from.

“They’re erasing data!” Mal suddenly cried out. “Are they insane?”

“Sounds prudent to me,” Kaci responded. Ace agreed. “If they are unable to contain us, then wouldn’t it be wise to take any step necessary to keep the information out of our hands?”

“You’re right,” Mal acquiesced. “I just spotted some interesting data packets, but they were wiped before I could make a copy. Project ‘Almighty’. Some curious nonsense about ‘Opulence’. I think they have the Speaker as prisoner.”

“Mal,” Ace cut in, his voice even and serious. “Focus. Keep whatever security they have at work away from Kaci.”

“It’s a Flayer,” Mal replied. The Ghost’s tone betrayed a hint of honest fear.

_That explains the sudden, manic conversation_ ,  Ace thought. His Ghost was afraid of getting snared by the powerful Psion that was working against them in the network. He didn’t know if the Cabal could actually manage to harm the Ghosts from inside the network, but there was no sense in taking the risk. The Hunter’s attention was drawn back to the door as a particularly loud crash created a noticeable dent in the center seam.

Halily’s hand cannon responded with a thunderous retort as the Titan fired a round into the space that the dent created between the two door halves. An outraged cry of pain informed the Hunter that her shot had found a mark. A pleased giggle carried over the comm relay.

—————

She smiled at the compliment that Mal had given Kaci. Even though her Ghost wasn’t as outspoken as others, Halily knew that Kaci was just as capable as the rest.

The deftness was likely a result of practice, the Titan admitted. Their team had done a lot of Strikes for the Vanguard that involved the Cabal. Paris and Garrick would also often have the squad patrol on Mars, near some of the fortified positions. So Kaci had been called upon often to access Cabal technology. She had even assisted Espie by cracking the encryption around the navigation operating system so that the Warlock could create the hacked version.

The pounding on the door suddenly became a tremendous crash, sending all extraneous thoughts flying from Halily’s mind. She watched one half of the door shudder under the weight of impact as a large dent bowed in. From her position, the Titan could see through the small cavity that had been created. She quickly took aim and fired her Crimil’s Dagger.

Halily smiled again at the pained roar that this elicited. She knew that their goal was to give the Ghosts as much time as possible so that they could get the data they need. Hopefully, wounding one of the soldiers through the door would give their besiegers pause.

Her hopes were immediately dashed, though, when another tremendous crash caused the other half of the entrance to shake. The metal panel didn’t buckle, but the Titan knew it was close to it. She gripped her weapon tightly with both hands and braced herself to react.

They did not have to wait long. With a dozen more terrific blows, the Cabal were able to force part of the door to bow in. A single thick metal panel suddenly flexed inward and then fell to the floor. Debris and smoke from the mechanism that made the door slide laterally, into the wall, fell down from the frame. The pieces would have likely made a flattering sound as they struck the fallen panel and floor, but it was drowned out by the sudden barrage of gunfire.

Neither Ace or Halily waited to see what was on the other side of the sundered frame. Both Guardians immediately opened fire into the opening, firing blindly from behind their barricade. Grunts of pain and outraged roars informed Halily that some of their shots had managed to strike soldiers on the other side.

As the Cabal returned fire, striking the containers and wall, Ace hollered over the din, “Mal! Get ready for transmat! We need to evac soon!”

“I’m close! I know it!” Kaci shouted back. “I don’t want to tip our hand with any inquiries targeting Gelahn!”

As Cabal slugs pounded the barricade around them, Halily paused firing long enough to eject the cylinder from her hand cannon and throw in a fresh one. Raising the weapon back up, the Titan then noticed that the collapsed panel had disappeared. She couldn’t see through the smoke that poured out of the ruined door mechanism, but she knew that it was no longer where it had been.

“Ace!” Halily shouted as she resumed firing. “We’re going to have incoming!”

A Frag Detonator suddenly landed on the floor in front of the containers. Both Guardians spotted it and dropped down, behind the barrier, before it exploded. The containers rattled a little bit, but didn’t actually move. Ace chuckled as they stood back up, “I think we’re fine.”

“No, that wasn’t it!” Halily exclaimed. She was about to explain more when the fallen door burst through the smoke, slamming into the stacked boxes. The heavy panel sent the metal crates tumbling, knocking both Guardians to the floor.

Halily groaned as she shoved aside the crate that had fallen onto her. She knew that she had to recover quickly, else they would be overwhelmed in only a moment. Her body protested slightly as the Titan got to her feet. She felt a soreness up her right side, from hip to shoulder, but no sharp pain. Her armor had managed to protect her from breaking ribs, but only barely.

“Ghosts!” Ace shouted. “We’re out of time!”

Bellowing a challenge, a Cabal Legionary rushed through the smoke. Halily met its charge with a swift barrage; she steadily stepped away as she fired as quickly as possible. The soldier tried to push past the remains of the toppled barricade, but a round from the hand cannon found and destroyed its helmet. The trooper fell forward.

Ace was firing upon another Legionary that had followed the first into the room. As that second trooper collapsed, the Hunter called out again, “Mal! We need out! Now!”

“I’m trying,” Mal’s digital voice sounded incredibly strained. And afraid. He continued, “I don’t know if I can keep it away from Kaci.”

Yet another soldier charged past the opening; this one firing its Slug Launcher as it dove through the smoke. The slugs were being launched in Ace’s general direction, causing the Hunter to drop behind cover. Halily leapt atop the crate in front of her and then hurled herself at the Legionary. Her armored fist connected with plating just below the trooper’s arm. The Titan had put all of her strength, her entire body, into the punch. Cabal armor collapsed in from the force of the blow, causing the soldier to fall to the side, against the wall. Halily reared back and threw her fist once more, this time connecting squarely with the Legionary’s helmet.

“Kaci!” the Titan roared. “Get it now or get us out!”

Halily then raised her Crimil’s Dagger, one hand covered with Cabal pressure gel, and emptied the second half of the magazine into a fourth trooper. Ace’s hand on her shoulder gently pulled the Titan away from the doorway as the Hunter, shotgun in the other hand, stepped in front. A heartbeat later, yet another soldier roared through the breach. Ace’s Veleda-D met it squarely.

“I have it!” Kaci announced triumphantly.

“Help me!” Mal suddenly cried out. “I can’t disengage! It has-”

The Ghost suddenly went silent. Halily couldn’t turn away from the entrance, but she could  _ feel _ Kaci turning to focus on Mal. As Ace dispatched another Legionary and Halily reloaded her hand cannon, Halily announced, “The Flayer has him. It managed to hack his connection to the network. How is this possible?”

The Titan briefly experienced a moment of fear for her own Ghost. What if the Flayer attacked Kaci as she attempted to help poor Mal? But the moment passed in an instant and she shouted over her shoulder, “Doesn’t matter! Help him and get us out of here!”

Legionary bodies had begun to clog the opened half of the the door. The next trooper to rush into the breach immediately stumbled over the lifeless body of its fellow. Ace destroyed it with a shotgun blast. But as the soldier fell, it hurled a Frag Detonator at the feet of the Hunter.

Halily grabbed Ace by his upper arm and pulled with all her strength. The Hunter was practically lifted off his feet as the Titan swung him about and propelled him away. Ace slammed into a crate and momentum carried him over to topple on the other side. Halily leapt after him, hurling herself over the container. The Cabal grenade exploded before she could get completely behind cover. The blast threw the Titan sideways, carrying her through the air to land on the floor a meter away from where Ace had fallen.

“Ouch. Son of a...” Halily groaned.

“Thank goodness,” Ace mumbled. “You’re not dead.”

“Get up, or we will be,” Halily managed to utter. Again, nothing was broken, but the concussive force of the blast left her in pain. She struggled to stand.

The Titan heard the Hunter’s rifle reply to the continued Cabal gunfire. It sounded almost pitiful. Ace’s rifle was a single drop in a storm of Slug Rifles. There had to be a dozen Legionaries in the hallway, firing through the destroyed doorway. And she knew that there were even more waiting, behind those troopers. The two Guardians could not hope to overcome such odds.

Then Halily remembered; they were meant only to delay.

“He’s free! Engaging transmat!” Kaci announced.

The Cabal chamber disappeared from her vision in a flash of blue light.


	17. Chapter 17

Ace commanded the Ghosts to immediately transmat the two Guardians back down to Earth as soon as they were back in their jumpships. He didn’t want to risk wasting any time before inspecting Halily’s wounds. There was no way that she had escaped that last grenade blast completely unscathed.

“Mal, find us a quiet spot with a lot of overhead cover,” he directed. “I’d say fly us away, but I don’t want to give them engine signatures. Just transmat us as far away from the airfield as you can.”

“Understood,” Mal replied quietly. Its experience with the Psion Flayer had left the Ghost shaken. Ace allowed a long moment of sympathy for his companion. It was not often that Mal was directly targeted or threatened. At least, not since the Ghost had found Ace.

A moment later, Ace found himself standing beneath the thick boughs of a massive pine tree. The ground was carpeted with a thick layer of moss that had grown over the tree’s shedding. The Hunter quickly shook off the transmat disorientation as he turned to find the Titan standing a couple meters away. Halily stood up straight, but he could see that she was  too rigid. It was forced.

“Mal, give us some light to see by,” Ace instructed. Mal unfolded in the space by his shoulder and then floated up to the branches overhead. Once there, the Ghost cast a bright light down upon the Guardians below.

Ace next turned to Halily and gently commented, “Sit down or at least lean against the tree.” He then immediately cut off the Titan’s protest before she could complete her first sentence, “Don’t try to tell me that you’re fine. Kaci?”

The Titan’s Ghost materialized and began scanning. After a couple seconds, Kaci declared, “There is some tissue damage. No fractures or damage to the skeletal system. Cognitive functions appear normal. No sign of concussion.”

Ace unclasped and removed his helmet as he replied, “That’s good to hear. Let’s take a closer look and make sure. Helmet?”

Halily slowly lowered herself to sit on the mossy ground and then removed her helmet. The Hunter watched her dark violet hair spill out of the helm to messily form a frame around the Awoken’s blueish face. Gently luminous, white eyes shone from within that face. As he took the time to gaze upon it, Ace had to admit that Halily had a very pretty face. There was a softness about her eyes that spoke of kindness and laughter. But a grim, stoic firmness about her mouth betrayed the pain she had to be feeling.

Ace removed his gloves and then used a hand to gently hold one of Halily’s eyes open. “Kaci. Torch.”

The Ghost complied and moved to shine a light into the Titan’s eyes. The white, glowing iris immediately contracted around the pupil in response. A good sign that was repeated when the Hunter and Ghost checked her other eye.

Ace nodded, satisfied. “Okay. Now, where does it hurt?”

The Exo could see hesitation in the Awoken’s face. Her eyes darted to one side as she considered her response and her mouth tightened further. She didn’t want to become a burden.

“You know, that was the second time you saved my life today,” Ace murmured softly. “I think I might be losing my touch.”

“They just got lucky,” Halily protested with a slight shake of her head. A couple seconds later, she admitted, “My right side. A crate fell on me. And then that grenade... the blast got me on the same side.”

“No broken bones?” Ace inquired as he looked to the Ghost. Kaci bobbed an approximation of a nod. He looked back to Halily and asked, “Can I take a look?”

The Awoken nodded as she reached back, into the thick fur fringe that framed her shoulders. With a practiced twist of the hand, she released the first clasp.

Kaci moved forward, “Here. Let me do it.” With a quick burst of light, all of the armor protecting her upper body, from gauntlets to pauldrons to breastplate, it all dematerialized and then reappeared on the ground beside the reclining Titan.

Ace leaned forward to inspect the Awoken’s side. Beneath her armor, Halily wore a grey, padded, sleeveless undershirt. He could see a dark line of bruising already formed across her upper bicep, the blue skin turned a purple almost dark enough to match her hair. The Exo felt tenderly around the arm before addressing Kaci, “Any internal hemorrhage?”

The Ghost bathed the arm in a soft light before answering, “Nothing to be concerned about.”

The Exo nodded before looking down to Halily’s chest. He could see from the rise and fall that her breathing was strained, but not labored. The Titan was controlling her respiration to manage the pain, not because she was experiencing difficulty. Another good sign.

Ace reached down to lift the shirt and exposed her midriff. Halily suddenly commented, “Kaci, just remove it as well. Leave my bra, please.”

As the padding disappeared, Ace sat back in surprise. From hip to shoulder, an angry line of purple raced up the Awoken’s torso. Without thinking, the Exo reached out and gently touched the darkest bruise near her collar. “Kaci, are you sure there is nothing broken? Your clavicle looks like it should be shattered.”

“Do all Exominds have such lousy bedside manner?” Halily chuckled. She winced slightly as the act caused discomfort.

Ace smiled as he replied, “You’re not in a bed, so you’ll have to make do with field repair manners.”

“Confirmed no skeletal damage,” Kaci commented. “There is some internal bruising in your lower abdomen that will need to be watched. No hemorrhage, but you should still be careful.”

Halily sat back, resting against the tree trunk. A slight smile managed to break as she replied, “I don’t think being careful is in the job description.”

Ace chortled as the humorous comment caught him off guard. He indulged in a couple seconds of cathartic laughter. After the moment passed, he looked back up into Halily’s face, “Maybe I could have been more careful back there.”

Halily’s smile disappeared as she asked, “How could you have possibly prepared for any of what happened?”

The Exo was silent for a long moment before he quietly answered, “I could have not brought us out here like this.”

It was Halily’s turn to be silently contemplative before replying, “We can stop.”

“But I made a promise. What about your friends?”

Ace could see Halily shakily take a couple deep breaths, the trembling caused more by emotional turmoil than physical trauma. Then she explained, “It would be a waste of their sacrifice if I threw my life away in this insane quest to avenge them. Even more so if something happened to you as well.”

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” Ace countered. “Maybe I needed this as much as you did.”

“How so?”

Ace took a deep breath, bracing himself, before admitting, “You were not the only one prepared to die on that day I found you.”

Halily didn’t respond. He could see from the slight widening of her eyes and the almost imperceptible catch of breath that she understood what he was saying. She waited for him to continue.

“I’ve been rushing into battles I should have avoided. I’ve gone headfirst into situations that I should have walked away from. I think...” Ace paused for a long moment, gathering the nerve to finish. “I think I wanted to be brought down.”

“We can walk away from this one,” Halily reiterated.

“Will you be okay with that? Walking away from justice for those you loved?”

“If we die trying to pull it off, what kind of justice would that bring? I don’t want to hunt Gelahn just for the sake of hunting him. I think I have already discovered what I needed to figure out.”

Ace had let his gaze drift down to the mossy ground under his feet and hands as he talked. Embarrassed to look her in the face as he admitted his terrible secret, the Exo focused on the carpeting the covered the forest floor in this small area. The Awoken’s comment brought his eyes back up to meet hers.

“I have never believed in myself,” Halily quietly explained. “Even with my family, I have always just done what they told me to do and hoped that I wouldn’t be a burden.”

Kaci bobbed bobbed through the air to nuzzle the Titan, offering support. Ace smiled at the exchange. He recalled a time when he had relied heavily on Mal’s support, when such interactions occurred between himself and his Ghost.

The Hunter waited for the moment between the Awoken and her Ghost to pass before replying, “I hope you don’t believe that you have been a burden. Your actions today saved the lives of those refugees as well as my own.”

“And we got what we were after!” Halily laughed.

“That’s right, we did!” Ace shared in the laughter for a moment before suddenly stopping. His tone became serious as he then commented, “Again, thank you for saving my life.”

Halily leaned forward and reached out with her hand to cup the side of Ace’s face. Her thumb absently stroked the Exo’s cheek as she smiled and quietly replied, “Thank you for saving mine.”

Ace unconsciously closed his optics and leaned into the contact. He had never been touched in such a way in his life. As soon as the Exo realized what was happening, though, he suddenly sat back and changed the subject, “You know, you are right. We did succeed at getting the data we were after.”

A slight narrowing of the Awoken’s eyes and the flicker of a smile told Ace that she had noticed both of his reactions to the physical contact. Halily merely responded with, “Yes, let’s review what our Ghosts managed to dig up.”

—————

“We managed to download a fair amount of data before we got chased out,” Kaci explained. “We obtained an updated patrol and resupply schedule. There are also details regarding the exact location of Bracus Gelahn.”

Puzzled, Halily interjected, “What do you mean? Isn’t he stationed in the base he commands?”

“No. He commands from frigate that maintains geosynchronous orbit over the base.”

Both of the Guardians sighed heavily at the news. It was one thing to infiltrate an airfield bunker, where they could approach from just about any direction imaginable, but boarding a frigate in orbit? As the two Guardians considered the implications of this information, Halily retrieved her shirt and gingerly slipped it back on. The muscles in her right arm and chest made their displeasure known as raised her arm overhead, but there were no sharp pains or other indicators warning her of more serious damage.

Ace raised a hand and subconsciously rubbed the top of his head; an act reminiscent of when a Human or Awoken would run fingers through their hair when they were thinking hard. Robotic fingers brushed across a white alloy scalp, just behind one of the Exomind’s retractable horns.

Halily reached forward again, this time to lay a calming hand on Ace’s arm, “Let’s get this intel back to the others.”

Ace looked up again, into her eyes, and smiled, “Great idea. Let’s get going.”

The Exo quickly got to his feet and then reached down to offer a helping hand. The Awoken reached up and accepted with her left. She was surprised to notice that, despite being metallic, his hand wasn’t cold to the touch. Not as warm as an organic, but still pleasant.

Ace gently helped Halily to her feet. As soon as she was fully upright, the Hunter then bent down and retrieved her helmet. Kaci floated over to hover above the rest of the armor and offered, “Let me.”

Halily nodded to the Ghost and braced herself. No matter how often the Titan let her companion help her equip her armor, there was the worry that she would get pinched or something if she didn’t hold still. A moment later, the fear passed as she felt the familiar weight of her armor settle about her body.

The Exo offered her helmet. As she took it from his hands, Ace stated, “Mal. Ready the transmat. Let’s get back to base.”

—————

As much as he did not want to expose their ships’ engine signatures to the Cabal, Ace couldn’t bring himself to risk an overland Sparrow trip back to the base. While Halily handled her new vehicle just fine, there was no way of knowing what lay between the two Guardians and their refuge. They would simply need to avoid flight or orbit near any Cabal-controlled airspace, else they would find a squad of Threshers swarming their ships. It was a necessary trade off, the Hunter decided. The Cabal likely already had the information on their jumpships from the transmat.

As the Waning Star banked about to face in the direction of their base, Ace looked out the canopy to the Earth below. He could see the lights of the airfield they had just escaped from in the distance. The Exo put the Cabal installation behind him and pressed forward on the throttle. A quick glance at the ship’s radar display told him that Halily was close behind.

The Waning Star silently cut through the night sky. As he flew, the Hunter pondered the events of the day. His mind kept bouncing from one incident to another, but there were two that stood out most to him.

His conversation with Mal struck a chord and had shaken him. Admitting to Halily what he had been unknowingly doing was a great relief, but also worrisome. Ace was aware that he had grown terribly weary of his life as a Guardian. He had lost count of the years he had lived since being Reborn in the Light. And he was faintly cognizant of the growing despair that he would never be able to accept a life as anything other than a Guardian. But to suddenly realize that he could have been subconsciously seeking his own demise was unsettling.

The other incident that he couldn’t shake from his mind was the moment when Halily had reached out to caress his face. In all his long, uncounted years as a Lightbearer, he had never been touched like that. Ace had learned very quickly that the life of a Guardian was brutal and could be short. He kept others at arm’s length. The memory of Deoxys was only the latest reminder that no one was immortal. So Ace avoided friendships and deeper connections. He would be spared the pain of loss.

But when she touched him, it ignited a spark within him. In that moment, Ace became aware of an emptiness that he never realized had been growing within. A terrible, vast thing that threatened to consume him. In his desire to avoid the terrible pain of loss, Ace had inadvertently created a void inside of his heart.

The Hunter remembered Deoxys and their friendly rivalry on the Sparrow race tracks. Their shared passion for the sport resulted in the two teaming up for missions and patrols. Back then, Deo was one of only a handful of Guardians that Ace would call his friend. When the Titan fell, he would be the last.

Ace then thought about the warmth shown to him by Kaizyn and Kaijae. The Awoken couple had helped Ace seek revenge, but they had also shown him camaraderie and kindness. The Hunter cared for the two Kais more than he was willing to admit. Perhaps it was time to admit it. In fact, there were a few people that he needed to admit meant more to him than he let on.

That thought brought a slight smile to the Exo’s face as he felt an imaginary burden lift from his chest.


	18. Chapter 18

As the two of them strode into the base’s command chamber, Halily immediately noticed the lack of activity. Last time, there had been a few other Guardians moving about the periphery while Samus, Nutbar, and Mike were working at the central command stations. Now the room was empty, even though the lights were on full illumination and computer monitors continued to dispatch data. Even for such a small operation, it was eerie to see the place empty. If they hadn’t passed by a pair of guards at the entrance, she would have been concerned.

“Everyone’s in bed,” Ace quietly commented as he walked past one of the main computer terminals.

“Not quite,” a voice replied from the exit to the opposite hallway.

Samus stepped around the corner, a cup of steaming liquid in his hand. Halily’s nose detected the fragrant scent of coffee and her mind immediately set to arguing with itself. She could practically taste the coffee already and her mouth began to water. However, her body was exhausted from the day’s exertion and, now that adrenaline had worn off, she wanted very much to collapse and go to sleep.

Ace must have noticed her staring at the coffee as he suddenly gave her a gentle nudge, “Let’s get some rest. You’re beat to hell and need to lay down.”

Nodding dumbly, Halily heard herself mumble something incoherent before she continued toward the exit.

As she walked past Samus, the Human smiled warmly and offered a friendly pat on her shoulder, “I’m happy to see you two come back safely.” Then he looked up to Ace and continued, “Can we have a word in private?”

Halily heard Ace agree to meet, but didn’t pay attention to what was being said. She merely muttered, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

The Titan made her way to the room she had been given and slipped inside. The bed beckoned to her, but she paused. “Kaci, help me with this armor,” Halily commented as she set her helmet on a chair. A second later, she took a deep breath of relief as the weight of her heavy armor disappeared. The Awoken felt goosebumps rise up on her exposed arms and legs as the cold air of the chamber enveloped her.

No longer worried about getting the bed wet with her still-damp armor, Halily thumbed the light off and hurried to climb in. The Titan let her head sink into the pillow as she pulled the covers over up over her shoulders. She closed her eyes as the bed warmed up with her body heat.

“Kaci?” Halily whispered.

She felt the Ghost materialize in the darkness above her. “What is it?” Kaci asked.

“Thank you for believing in me. I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through in the last few days.”

Kaci paused before replying, “I am sorry that we lost our friends. Before I found you, I had a pair of friends that I traveled with. I lost them in a Fallen ambush. I know how much it hurts.”

“Do you still miss them?”

“Yes. It got better after I found you, but I think I will always miss them. That’s how it is for those that you really care for. When they’re gone, they take a tiny piece with them.”

“It gets better, though. Right?”

Kaci’s tone became more cheerful and encouraging as she answered, “It can. I found you and that helped fill a big piece of the hole that was left. But I had also healed a little bit before that. You should work on healing before you go about trying to find something to fill the hole in your heart.”

Halily nodded and then smiled. That was twice in one day that Kaci had surprised her by suddenly becoming so talkative. “Speaking of healing, I should get to sleep and let my body recover. Good night, Kaci.”

“Good night, Halily.”

—————

Ace gestured to the table in the center of the chamber. It wasn’t exactly a private location, but no one else was awake and the two Hunters would hear anyone approaching before their conversation could be overheard. The Exo suspected he knew what the Human wanted to discuss.

Samus nodded and walked over to sit at the circular table. As Ace settled into a chair, Samus commented, “I really am happy to see you back in one piece. You two are back earlier than I expected. Did you guys run into trouble?”

The Exo shook his head, “Not the kind of trouble you might be thinking. Yeah, there was plenty of trouble, but we got what we were after.” He could see the Human about to offer congratulations and held up a hand to stop him. Ace continued, “We had to jumpship out of there. The Cabal have really increased the security at their airfields.”

Samus chewed on the news for a minute until finally, “That would explain some of the difficulties we have been experiencing lately. Sounds like the Cabal are considering operations like ours more seriously.”

“I can have Mal send the data to Twilight for you,” Ace offered.

The Human Hunter did a poor job of hiding his slight wince at the suggestion. “Why don’t you just have him dump the info into my terminal directly?”

Ace was very pleased to have an Exomind body at times like this, when he was teasing others. With a robotic body, he had an unbeatable poker face and found it very easy to hide a smile. After all, it was common knowledge in their little group that Samus was often embarrassed by his Ghost. The poor thing wasn’t exactly inept, but it was so terribly  eager that it often would start trying to assist well before it understood what was needed and, thus, waste time and energy. Twilight also seemed to lack certain common sense and, in its eagerness to assist, would materialize at very inopportune moments that often put itself at risk.

Plus, Twilight was terribly annoying. Ace almost regretted mention its name on the off chance that it decided to appear on its own. To forestall this very thing, Ace quickly held out his hand and willed Mal to appear. As the Ghost’s cuboid frame unfolded from thin air, the Exo stated, “You heard the man. Go ahead and dump everything into the computer for us.”

“Right away,” Mal answered as it moved to follow instructions.

As soon as the Ghost floated away, Samus quietly commented, “Ace, I do wish you would reconsider my request.”

“Samus, I can’t accept a leadership role here.” Ace’s voice fell to a whisper, “I... I’m not doing well right now.”

“None of us are.”

“No. I mean, I am not in a good place. I can’t trust myself to make decisions for others.”

Samus paused for a long while before responding, “I understand. I know how you feel.”

Ace glanced back up to look into Samus’s eyes. A shadow crossed the Human Hunter’s face. What was it? Fear? Anger? Sadness? It was so fleeting, Ace couldn’t tell what it was.

Before Ace could comment, Samus continued, “I’ll stop asking. But I want you to know that everyone here respects you. When you’re ready.”

The Exo nodded before replying, “Thank you. That does mean a lot. And I promise that I am going to stick around more from now on.”

Samus sat up in his chair and gave Ace a hard look. The Exo didn’t feel any judgement coming from his fellow Hunter, merely curiosity. Finally, the Human asked, “What happened out there?”

As he recounted the events of the day, Ace decided that he was too embarrassed to admit his epiphany. He was able to bring himself to discuss it with Halily because she was dealing with similar struggles, but he found himself wishing to avoid it with anyone else.

When Ace reached the point of the recap where he and Halily decided to quit the mission, the Exo explained, “I realized that I have been getting too reckless and relying far too much on luck.”

“Luck always runs out,” Samus commented. “You said that to me more than a few times when I was a fresh Guardian.”

“Did I? That sounds pretty wise, so it checks out,” Ace quipped.

Samus rolled his eyes before replying, “Yes, well, our luck has only barely managed to hold so far. I’m glad that you have deciding to stop pushing it.”

The Exo issued a slight groan as he got to his feet. A few of the components that comprised the musculature of his arms and legs informed him that they had been damaged by exertion and required a rest cycle to repair themselves. Ace glanced to the exit, where his bedchamber awaited and commented, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself now that I’ve decided to stop play it more cautiously.”

Samus held up a hand to stop the Exo. “Yeah, about that,” the Human began. “You should probably sit back down.”

“Eff me,” Ace muttered as he slid into the chair once again.

—————

Halily fought to stay asleep until she realized that it was her need to use the bathroom that had woken her up. The Titan considered laying in bed for just a few more minutes until she remembered that she had already done that an hour ago. Grumbling to herself as she pushed the blanket away and swung her feet to the floor, the Awoken finally muttered, “Kaci. Light.”

A heartbeat later, the small chamber was flooded with a soft light from overhead. The act of sitting up exacerbated the need to use the bathroom. Halily snatched the blanket and wrapped it about herself as she stepped to the door and palmed the electronic plate. As it slid open, a rush of cold air swept into the room. The Awoken was grateful she had thought to cover herself with the blanket as she stepped into the hallway and rushed toward the bathrooms.

Jogging past the cafeteria, she noticed a handful of Guardians sitting at tables. It must have been well beyond morning if so many were awake. Palming another plate to open one of the bathroom doors, Halily quietly asked, “How long was I out?”

“Thirteen point seven eight hours,” Kaci answered as she slipped into the room. The Titan wanted to protest against sleeping for such a long amount of time, but her body protested any further delays. She tossed the blanket onto a countertop and moved to the toilet. Kaci sensed the Awoken’s thoughts and continued, “You have not had any decent amount of rest since the incident. And then there is the damage you sustained yesterday. You needed the sleep.”

Halily found herself unable to argue with her Ghost’s reasoning. She had felt her body’s fatigue threatening to dull her reflexes at a couple points during the previous day. Adrenaline and sheer nerve had kept her going. The Awoken knew that Kaci’s analysis was accurate.

As she moved her right arm, the dark bruise on her bicep reminded her with a sudden ache. Now that she was no longer focused on her bladder’s need, the Awoken’s was aware of the dull pain spreading from her chest and arm. Her nose then also noticed an unpleasant odor.

“Traveler! Is that me?” Halily quietly exclaimed to herself. “Kaci? Any showers?”

The Ghost’s spherical shell twitched slightly, processing, before she answered, “Yes. Follow me.”

Halily snatched up the blanket and, after covering herself back up once again, followed the Ghost. Trotting behind her companion, the Awoken suddenly asked, “Did you think to grab any spare underclothes? Please tell me that these are not the  only _ones_ I have.”

—————

Ace sat on his cot, back resting against the wall, as he considered his conversation with Samus for the hundredth time. The Exo had managed a few hours of sleep once he retired and then, after waking, went to the cafeteria to get some food. As he walked to the general area, he could feel significant improvement to the damaged areas of his arms and legs. Now an hour since eating a simple nutrient bar and he could feel the nanomachines inside his chassis working to finish repairing the damage done to his body, similar to how organic Human and Awoken cells regenerated. The biggest difference being how rapidly it occurred. What kind of battle were Exominds created to fight to be thus engineered?

The Hunter dismissed the thought. He didn’t have time for such internal existential debates right now. “Hey, Mal, is Halily awake yet?”

The Ghost materialized near Ace’s face and nodder, “Yes. She is currently using the shower.”

“What do you think?”

“What do you mean, Ace?”

“Should we ask her to help?”

Mal cocked its shell to the side as it replied, “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you?”

Ace closed his eyes and let his head fall back to rest against the wall. Why did he hesitate to ask the Titan to join him? He felt that they both had similar realizations during the previous day’s excursion. He would hate to tear the chance to progress away from her. And then his mind drifted to the moment when she had caressed his face. The Exo remembered the warmth of her bare hand against the cooler metal chassis of his face. Something unfamiliar stirred inside of him.

Was Ace thinking of leaving Halily behind an act of protection? Did he hesitate to lead her into danger because he was suddenly more concerned about her well being? Or was it all simply a symptom of his trouble with allowing others to get close to him? Was he tempted to leave her behind so that he could keep her at arm’s length and dampen whatever friendship he sensed growing between them?

Finally, Ace responded, “I think it would be selfish. She’s doing better and doesn’t need to stick her neck out like this. Especially so soon after deciding that neither one of needs to take unnecessary risks out there.”

“You should ask her,” Mal replied, matter of factly. “She is a Guardian. A good one.”


	19. Chapter 19

Stepping out of the stall, a cloud of steam following her into the cooler air, Halily used her blanket to wring the water from her hair. Kaci bobbed in the air above a set of fresh underclothes sitting atop a counter. The Awoken hurriedly dried herself off with the remaining dry half of the blanket so that she could get dressed.

Once clad in her padded shirt and leggings, the Awoken rushed back to her chamber. As she jogged down the hallway, Halily’s stomach let her know that it required attention as well. So she was in the cafeteria, after donning her armor, when Kaci informed her that Ace wanted to meet.

As she polished the last few crumbs from the package, Kaci unfolded from the air above the table. “Mal says that they want to speak with us.”

Halily nodded and immediately began cleaning up the handful of empty packages. After disposing of them, she snatched up her cup of coffee and gestured for the Ghost to lead the way. She followed Kaci through the quarters area to the command center.

Ace sat at the center table along with all three of the camp leaders, Nutbar, Mike, and Samus. She couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but everyone’s expression was serious.

As she walked up to join them and got closer, she could finally overhear Mike speaking, “...that this is guaranteed, no one is, but it’s a risk we need to take.”

“Does anyone else see the irony of this? Am I the only one?” Ace asked. He was trying to chuckle, to insert some levity into the conversation, but it was too forced. Even Halily could tell that his laughter was faked.

“Believe me,” Nutbar began, “we all are aware what is being asked. This operation isn’t being asked of us lightly.”

“You were going to make the trip anyway,” Mike suddenly interjected. “I understand that you decided not to go, but you don’t have a more important target to go after.”

Halily was barely close enough to hear Ace’s quiet admission, “I didn’t plan on coming back from it. On making it out.

All three of the other Guardians visibly tensed and went silent at his confession. Nutbar and Mike shared a brief look between the two of them whilst Samus merely nodded. Despite his quiet tone, as if embarrassed to admit what he had just stated, Ace sat up straight and defiantly looked each one in the eye.

It was in that moment that Mike’s ghost appeared and announced, “Excuse me, Sirs? Madam Halily has arrived.”

“Thanks, Jeeves,” Ace replied as he turned about. It was difficult to decipher emotions from the face of an Exomind, but his tone and slight smile gave her the impression that he was relieved by the interruption.

The others also turned to face the Titan. Nutbar was the first to speak, “Good to see you back safely, Halily. Congratulations on a successful hack.”

“Heard you took a beating,” Mike commented. “Have a seat. You feeling okay?”

Grabbing a chair from one of the nearby terminal stations, Halily sat down at the table, between Ace and Nutbar, before answering, “I’m fine. Still a little sore, but the shower helped.”

“Good to hear,” Mike replied, “I’m not sure how much you’ve heard already, but everyone here is mobilizing.”

Halily almost jumped back up out of her chair in alarm, “What’s going on? Did we lead the Cabal here?”

Ace leaned over and placed a calming hand on her shoulder, “Nothing like that. Just that the rumors about Zavala returning from Titan were a little old.”

Nutbar snorted, “Old by over a week. As soon as I upgraded the comms with the decryption module, we started getting flooded with chatter. Took me a while, but I was able to confirm that Zavala is back on Earth along with the rest of the Vanguard leaders.”

A hundred different thoughts flew through Halily’s mind in the heartbeat that followed the news. Before she could seize on one of them to form a question, Samus spoke up, “There’s a super weapon aimed at our sun and needs to be destroyed. Everyone is getting ready to assist in some way or another.”

“Another Guardian was able to get back their Light,” Ace quietly added. Halily looked sharply to the Exo as he continued, “None of us know how, but they did it. Zavala is sending them after Thumos and we are going to keep the rest of the Cabal occupied.”

“So, the irony is that we are going after Bracus Gelahn after all?” Halily asked.

“Well, I am,” Ace answered. “I would not presume to drag you into this without asking.”

“Well, if Gelahn is going to die, I would like to help,” Halily responded.

Mike leaned forward, a cautionary hand held out, “You don’t have to kill him. Remember, all that matters is that you disrupt his ability to communicate with his troops so that he doesn’t go to support Thumos during the attack.”

Ace gave an acknowledging nod, “True. Now that we aren’t going on a revenge mission, we can walk away at any time.”

“It’s not a revenge mission? How will Ace know what to do with himself?” Samus joked.

This time, the levity struck and everyone at the table had an honest chuckle at the Exo’s chagrined expense. Ace tried to feign outrage, but it was undercut when he burst out laughing a moment later. Halily, however, was puzzled and spoke up a few seconds later, “What’s the big problem? Ace, you don’t seem like you want to go after Gelahn.”

The question sobered the table once again. It was a couple moments before Ace replied, “It’s the closest thing to a suicide mission I can think of.”

Nutbar set his data pad on the table; it displayed the outline of a Cabal frigate as the Warlock explained, “Gelahn’s decision to command from a frigate makes getting to him... difficult. Even disrupting his ability to command requires accessing that ship. Back when we had our Light, I could see a single fireteam being able to successfully storm a frigate and eliminate the command. Now...”

Ace jumped in after Nutbar trailed off, “Now there is only _one_ of us that has regained their Light and he is going to be busy storming Firebase Hades. Wait. Is it he? She? Damn it. Does anyone know  _who_ the hell this Guardian even is?”

Halily could sense the Exo’s frustration as she believed that she shared some of it. Knowing that there was a Guardian out there that had managed to restore their Light while the rest of them were dying every day; it left her wondering why. If one Guardian’s Light could be restored, why not the rest of them? How in the hell did this one Guardian manage to pull it off?

“Ace, all that matters is that they have their Light and are the only one who can stop the Cabal from blowing up our sun,” Mike’s patient tone grew strained at the end.

“Right. As if capturing the Traveler wasn’t enough for them, now they want to blow up our sun. Worst fireworks display ever,” Ace muttered.

“Sounds pretty impressive to me,” Nutbar countered. “It’s the Cabaliest victory celebration I could think of.”

“We’ll arrange for you to get a front seat,” Mike quipped.

“Yes, well, having the sun explode will definitely make it difficult to figure out a way to free the Traveler,” Samus commented.

“Every able bodied Guardian is going to participate in this effort,” Nutbar paused for a second as he took a deep breath. “There will be a lot of Guardians that won’t make it back.”

The table went silent once again. It was a minute before Ace broke it, “Has anyone heard from the Kais since the City fell?”

Nutbar answered, “They’re at the Farm with the Commander. They will be leading an attack against an armor division in the east.”

Samus shook away his contemplation and turned to the Warlock, “Sabotage? Or a hit and run?”

Nutbar shrugged as he replied, “Not sure. Since they want maximum attention to siphon resources, I suspect a hit and run attack.”

Mike looked up to the ceiling and rhetorically asked, “How many attacks like this are being planned? We’re going to lose a lot of good people.”

Concerned flooded Halily as she turned to give Ace a hard look, “Are you going to attempt to storm Gelahn’s frigate?”

Startled by the harsh tone in her voice, Ace quickly responded, “No. Of course not. If I get blasted out of the sky on approach, there won’t be any affect on the troops that he commands.” The Exo simulated a deep breath be continued, “It’s another infiltration. Sabotage his comms. Assassinate him if possible.”

“The trick will be getting you on board that frigate,” Samus commented.

“Yeah, no shit,” Halily suddenly blurted. Ace grinned as he was unable to contain his mirth at her invective. Realizing that Samus’s comment had been intended to keep the discussion on topic, the Awoken apologized, “Sorry. It’s just that this is a lot to take in.”

Ace and Nutbar both have her reassuring pats on her shoulders. Nutbar replied, “We understand. We’ve had almost a full day to process. Ace has had a few hours more than you.”

“Samus warned me last night,” Ace admitted. “As for getting on that frigate, I think I just had an idea. Kaci helped with the Cabal nav operating system hack, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, she performed the download and was with Espie during the rewrite,” Halily answered. As she spoke, the Awoken raised her hand as summoned the Ghost. Kaci appeared and “blinked” a couple times as she rotated to face everyone sitting at the table.

“Do you still have the download?” Ace asked a moment later, when the Ghost was finally facing him.

Kaci nodded before answering, “I do. Would you be interested in reviewing the data? Or the hacked version that Espie created?”

“Not right now, Kaci. I just wanted to know how much we have to work with from the get go,” Ace explained.

Samus appeared to have an idea of what Ace was thinking as a smirk painted the Human Hunter’s face. “What do you have in mind?” he asked.

“Only the single most Hunteriest way to solve our infiltration problem,” the Exo Hunter replied proudly. “Nutbar, can you leave the planning of your op to Mike and Samus?”

“Traveler save us,” the Warlock muttered with a sigh, “ _What_ do you have in mind?”

“A heist.”

—————

Ace walked with Halily back to the cafeteria. The Awoken’s Ghost stayed behind with Mal and Nutbar to begin working on his plan. Along with the Warlock’s Ghost, Griz, the four of them had the project well in hand.

“Are you sure that you want to come along?” he asked as the two entered the public area. A pair of Titans were sitting at a table in the corner. Their faces were both masks of nervous anxiety. Ace couldn’t blame them. They were being asked to make themselves into targets and everyone was mortal.

“I can’t let you go alone!” Halily snapped. Her tone abruptly softened as she continued, “I mean, it sounds like you’re going up there by yourself. Is that really the plan?”

Ace shrugged, “It’s really just a sabotage mission. There are a couple others who will be doing the same as me at the other airfields in our sector. Everyone else will be participating in the distraction operations to draw attention.”

The Exo could see Halily considering everything as she subconsciously chewed on her lower lip. A moment later, the Awoken replied, “I don’t know which is more dangerous. Trying to sneak onto a frigate or purposely making yourself into a big target.”

Ace knew the answer. He reached across the table and placed a hand on hers, “The distraction run. Keep moving and don’t let them get a clean shot at you. I’m letting you keep the Ravensteel. She’ll keep you moving so fast that they won’t know what to do.”

“You want me to join one of the assault groups?” Ace didn’t know if Halily sounded hurt or relieved. Or maybe she was just merely curious.

“It’s the safest operation. As long as the Cabal don’t get a lucky shot, and you don’t stick your neck out too far, you can transmat out of there. Keep your ship close.”

“What about Samus, Nutbar, or Mike? Can’t one of them help you?”

Ace decided she was merely curious. She wasn’t upset or aggrieved. He smiled as he answered, “Who do you think is leading the assault groups? We need precise timing and coordination to maximize effectiveness. We have to spread the Cabal forces as thin as possible.”

“I’m going with you,” Halily suddenly declared.

The Exo felt a warmth spread outward from his stomach as an imaginary knot suddenly unwound itself. As much as he did not want to lead this woman into a suicide attack, he was relieved to have her along with him. And it was entirely possible that having her along would be the deciding factor in the end that saw him successfully escape with his own life.

“Are you sure that you are feeling well enough already?” Ace felt the need to make sure that the Awoken understood what she volunteering for. “We will be leaving well in advance of everyone else. We need to conduct the heist and get into position before everyone else begins. You won’t have much more time to rest up if you come with me.”

Halily considered for a few moments before she answered, “I’m sure. We may not get a chance at Gelahn, but I would like to be there if the chance presents itself.”

Ace narrowed his eyes as he looked into the Titan’s face. Was she hoping to create such an opportunity up there? Would it be wrong of him to deny her or prevent it?

A couple seconds later, something inside of the Exo told him that there was no disingenuousness. None of the telltale signs that he always managed to pick up on when an organic tried to mislead him. Relaxing, Ace replied, “Get some rest. I’m sure you feel like you’ve had plenty of sleep already, but you can still relax your mind and try to keep any anxious energy from preventing your body from recovering.”

The Hunter gave a slight nod in the direction of the other two Titans sitting at the opposite end of the cafeteria chamber. They both still looked as tense and nervous as before. Ace could see understanding take root as she nodded.

“I’ll take a walk and clear my mind,” Halily suggested.

“We won’t be leaving until tomorrow, a full day ahead of everyone else,” Ace advised.

“I’ll make sure to get plenty of rest. I really do feel a lot better already. I’ll be able to watch your back up there. I promise.”

Ace smiled warmly, “Considering how many times you’ve already managed to save my life, hearing you say that is more comforting that you can possibly imagine.”

With that, the Hunter stood up and turned back toward the command center. He didn’t expect to be of much use to Nutbar and the three Ghosts, but he wanted to be there. Moral support.


	20. Chapter 20

Striding into the command chamber, Ace noted that everyone was where he expected them to be. Nutbar had taken over the main bank of terminals near the central table with the three Ghosts hovering over his head. The Warlock had three different computers displaying code as the team went through each line. Samus and Mike had moved to the station that had the largest screen, a four foot tall setup that currently displayed a map of the area around their base. The Exo Titan waved Ace over.

Ace passed a Warlock and Hunter discussing Sparrow repairs and then a Titan who was reviewing a ship diagnostic report on their data pad. A Warlock then slipped out of the armory at the other side the room with a shotgun in hand. Ace noticed that the Guardian’s hands trembled slightly as she placed the weapon on the magnetic holster on her back. There was none of the background friendly banter or even nervous laughter that the Hunter was accustomed to hearing in the camp.

When Ace drew near, Mike commented with a robotic smile, “Thanks for getting this data. I know it seems a little hypocritical to be saying this after yesterday’s conversation, but having this increases our odds of success tenfold.”

Ace waved away the Titan’s praise, “It’s just luck that the stuff I nabbed turned out to be so damn useful.”

“Well, it’s enough to make me never play cards against you ever again,” Mike quipped.

“So what’s the plan for you guys?” Ace asked as he leaned against a nearby table.

Samus reached forward and keyed in a command into the terminal. Five diamond indicators appeared on the map. Ace recognized the three airfields in the area around Thumos’s base. He did not recognize the remaining pair of diamonds on the map.

Pointing to Gelahn’s airfield in the west, Samus began, “You and Halily are taking care of Gelahn here. At the northern field, Mike is going to take a group to draw the attention of Bracus Zahn. I’m going to lead a team to harass the southern airfield that you two pissed off yesterday. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get  their attention.”

“You’re welcome for that,” Ace chuckled. The laugh was genuine, but there was an undertone of nervous energy. He worried for Samus. The Cabal were already increasing security protocols and had improved their readiness. How much more dangerous would it be for Samus and his team to make an overt approach a mere two days since the last infiltration?

Samus merely shrugged and continued, “Nutbar volunteered to stage a feint against an armored group operating in the western sector of the Orobas Vectura. It’s actually the same group that resupplies and is escorted by the Cabal ships operating out of Gelahn’s base. Your success will really help Nutbar’s chances.”

Ace took a deep breath as he absorbed the idea. A Cabal armored division was a formidable asset in its own right. One with aerial support would likely annihilate anything that got in its way. He would have to ensure that Gelahn was unable to command his troops. The Hunter made a mental note to make sure that Mal was prepared in advance to effectively sabotage the Gelahn’s communication network. He would not leave this to chance.

Finally, Samus finished, “Kerissa will take the last group to draw the eastern armored division away from the base. Since the southern airfield is already pissed off, her goal is going to try to draw them north.”

Mike then leaned forward and, with genuine concern coloring his tone, asked “Are you sure you don’t want another body or two coming along with you, Ace? I know you Hunters pride yourselves on being sneaky, but pride always comes before the fall.”

“I’m sure,” Ace answered after a moment. “Too many bodies increases our own risk and I don’t have enough equipment to bring anyone other than Halily.”

Mike stood up, “All right. I’ll leave Jeeves to help calculate the travel logistics. I’m going to run diagnostics on the Sparrows being used for this op. The last thing we need is any of the vehicles stalling out in the field.”

Samus glanced away from the map to the Titan, “Wait. All of them?”

“I trust Guardians like Ace and Kerissa. They’re Sparrowheads and wouldn’t be caught dead on a machine that wasn’t in prime condition,” Mike replied. Ace suppressed a smile. The Titan was absolutely correct; Ace made sure to review diagnostic logs whenever he had Mal check any of his vehicles. Mike continued, “Ghosts aren’t able to simply reconstruct things like they used to and equipment has gone without proper maintenance.”

After the Titan left, Samus let out a small sigh, “I should probably clean my guns tomorrow.”

“I find that to be a very relaxing chore before a big mission,” Ace smiled as he gave the other Hunter a friendly clap on the back. Samus nodded as he keyed in a command to set a reminder on his data pad.

Ace then stood up and walked over to where Nutbar was reviewing operating system code with the three Ghosts. The Hunter looked over the Warlock’s shoulder only to witness lines upon lines of indecipherable text. He looked down to Nutbar and quietly asked, “You can read this?”

The Warlock tapped a key on the console and the script stopped moving. The Warlock glanced up and replied, “Barely. It would be a lot easier if I had an actual Thresher flight control console, but I’m getting the gist of it. It helps that Kaci is able to translate.”

“Yes,” Mal added. “Kaci’s experience with Cabal systems is very impressive.”

Rather than demurring, like its Guardian would have, the Ghost performed a pleased bob and shake. Kaci then replied, “Thank you. I’ve performed many system hacks and assisted in multiple program translations, so I have had lots of practice.”

“Well, your experience is saving us a lot of time,” Griz commented. Nutbar’s Ghost sported an ornamental shell; the original cuboid frame, but it had been decorated with the Warlock order’s swooping eagle motif.

Nutbar resumed slowly scrolling through the script. Ace retrieved a chair and sat down. As the script slowly moved over the course of the next hour, Ace could  _ feel _ the language slowly begin to make sense. He could  _ see _ that the current passage of parsed text related to fuel mixture control. If the pilot were to activate full thrust, the ships sensors were capable of interpreting the atmospheric makeup and prioritize using existing elements in the air over onboard fuel.

“What are you looking for, Nutbar?” Ace quietly asked.

“I assume that you need control over their autopilot system as well as security broadcast protocols,” the Warlock replied, unfazed by sudden break in the relative silence.

“We have already parsed out the autopilot controls,” Kaci commented. One of the terminal screens suddenly shifted as it scrolled to display the appropriate script.

“Yes, but you also told me that the sabotage this hack was created for wasn’t entirely successful,” Nutbar gently countered.

“Best to start from scratch,” Griz added.

Ace expected Kaci to respond defensively, but the Ghost merely nodded and returned to reviewing the data. The Hunter focused on the modified script that was currently being displayed. He moved his chair into position in from of the computer and reached out, prompting the code to begin slowly scrolling.

It was definitely the desired autopilot software that Kaci claimed. He could  _ see _ where the program would receive destination or flight path inputs and then calculate the necessary directional controls to achieve the desired result. The entire script was essentially a series of call commands built underneath the routing calculation. It was there that he stumbled into the hack that Halily’s team created for their fateful sabotage mission.

Espie had crafted an insidious override. It would trick a pilot into believing that, if flying manually, they were in control for the first couple minutes. In the event of no pilot or an immediate autopilot input, the hack would give the impression of initially following the intended commands. But once the infected craft sustained a couple minutes of flight, it would immediately climb to a predetermined altitude and then plummet to the ground.

“What’s wrong with this script?” Ace murmured to himself.

“A couple things,” Nutbar quickly replied. “One, we don’t want the ship to perform that crash command with you in it. Two, we don’t know how the script was detected when Halily’s team attempted to infect those Threshers with it.”

“Halily is convinced that she made an error accessing the ship’s computer, potentially tripping some kind of detection sensor,” Kaci explained. “She was the last one to reach the final access point before the ships all locked down on us.”

The Exo returned to the autopilot command line. Espie’s work was excellent, he decided. Once Ace was back in the original software script, it was difficult to find the hack entry point again. It was practically through sheer luck that the Hunter had found the insertion command that brought him to Espie’s hack.

“This override is good,” Ace commented. “I cannot see what is wrong with it. Where did they go wrong?”

“Hold on, Ace,” Nutbar replied. The Warlock reached over to the display in front of the Hunter and typed a command. The script promptly changed as it moved to a different section. Nutbar then glanced up at the Ghosts and asked, “What is this?”

Kaci dipped down closer to the Warlock before replying, “This is the operating system security check section. It confirms the integrity of the software on startup and was the biggest hurdle we had to overcome when crafting our sabotage.”

“Yeah, it looks pretty comprehensive,” Nutbar muttered. “It explains why your Warlock needed to bury it in the code the way that she did.”

“Yes, it was not easy setting up an inserted call-command that would not be detected. We were tempted to adjust this protocol, but Espie found a call reference that indicates redundancy existing in the firmware of the ship itself. Do you think the security protocols detected the inserted scripting?” Kaci asked.

Nutbar shook his head, “No. I cannot find any flaws with this as it is written. At least, depending on where it was used.”

Ace turned a quizzical eye toward Nutbar, curious at the Warlock’s odd phrasing. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“There is something here in the firmware reference check that seems odd,” the Warlock replied explained. “I think this call prompt has a hidden check.”

“That’s why we left it alone,” Kaci responded. “There wouldn’t be anywhere near enough time to hack the firmware in the ships once we began.”

Nutbar began rapidly keying in commands and moved about the parsed section of the script. Ace watched as the Warlock swiftly chased down several security check prompts and investigated the various call commands. He could see the intense focus grow on the the Human’s face as he rapidly shifted from one prompt to another.

After a few minutes, Nutbar finally asked softly, “Where did you get this copy of the operating system?”

“The Northern airfield, under command of Bracus Zahn,” Kaci answered.

“Then you used it in an attempt to sabotage the ships being maintained at Bracus Gelahn’s airfield?” Nutbar stated more than asked.

“They succeeded,” Ace replied. “Six Threshers were destroyed.”

The Warlock nodded, “Just not in the way that was planned. Halily and her team were supposed to make it out of there. Kaci, what was plan supposed to be?”

“We were supposed to install the modified operating system and then sneak out,” Kaci explained. “The software was supposed to lie dormant until the maintenance was complete and the pilots returned to the ships.”

“It would have worked, but here’s the problem,” Nutbar began. With a quick few keystrokes, the Human accessed one of the security reference prompts. He pointed to a section of code and stated, “The ship’s designation of command is part of the security check. It’s encoded into the firmware.”

Ace sat up straight, as if physically struck. He turned sharply to face the Warlock, “You figured out why the hack failed them?”

With a slight nod, Nutbar confirmed, “Yeah, it’s hidden in this security protocol. It wasn’t easy to decipher, but this particular script asks for a base command designation from the control module firmware. There’s another script that hid the ‘correct’ code response.”

Ace then looked back to the modified operating system that he had been reviewing. “What happened when they installed this into those Threshers?”

“It didn’t match,” Nutbar explained. “The onboard computer notified base command that the ship had been compromised. After that...”

The Exo didn’t need the sentence finished. He knew well enough what happened to the fireteam once they attacked the second batch of gunships.

Kaci had been slowly floating away from the group, toward the ceiling. The Ghost’s quiet tone was a mixture of relief and disbelief, “My Guardian didn’t do anything wrong. It was buried in the software. We missed a detail.”

“I really can’t blame you,” Nutbar stated. “If your team hadn’t already experienced failure, I wouldn’t have known to hunt this down. It was hidden almost as well as Espie’s sabotage code.”

Kaci remained stunned, still hovering in the air near the ceiling. Its shell twitched and whirled with agitation as it processed this new development. Ace could feel the little thing’s conflict as it furtively glanced from the computer terminals to the exit to the quarters area. He was honestly surprised that Kaci hadn’t already rushed off to inform its Guardian of this momentous news. Or was the Ghost worried that it would be met with skepticism?

“Would you like me to inform Halily?” Ace offered.

The Ghost twitched once more and then turned back to regard the group below, “Would you be willing to do that? I don’t think she would think I’m lying, but...”

Ace nodded, “I understand. I’ll explain everything to her.”

“She’s asleep now,” Kaci replied.

“How long have we been at this?” Nutbar suddenly asked.

“Three hours and twenty eight minutes,” Griz answered.

The Warlock shook his head ruefully. “Okay. I have a plan, but I’m going to need a coffee.”

“What’s your idea?” Ace inquired.

“A template. We have no way of knowing what the command designation is of the ships at Gelahn’s airfield,” Nutbar explained. “Modifying the security protocol will work as long as we have an accurate entry to input. Before your Ghost installs this code, they’ll just need to make sure to get the firmware data. I’ll modify Espie’s software to give you the ability to pilot the ship.”

“You get started on that. I’ll go get your coffee.”


	21. Chapter 21

Ace left Nutbar and the Ghosts to do the work of crafting the improved script. While, thanks to Exomind engineering, he was able to understand the script, it was only barely. He would not be of any use helping craft the modified code. Instead, the Exo let his mind dwell on the revelation surrounding Halily’s team.

He knew that the news would come as a massive relief to the Awoken woman. Coupled with her recent introspective growth, it could help her to achieve peace and acceptance of her team’s deaths. However, it would only be a first step. Ace knew that the Titan’s trouble went much deeper, same as his own.

Deciding that she needed as much rest as possible, the Hunter walked past the Titan’s room, continuing to his own. Palming the control panel, Ace opened the door to his chamber and removed the Nameless Midnight from the magnetic holster. He grabbed the small table that stood next to a wall with his free hand and dragged it to his cot. The Exo set the rifle on the table and then walked over to a small chest that sat on the floor at the foot of the cot. Retrieving a cleaning kit, he finally turned and sat down in front of the rifle.

Opening the kit container, Ace began removing and setting the contents on the table in an organized manner. A bottle of cleaner. Extendable rod. Handful of different sized, cylindrical brushes. Pair of micro-tipped screwdrivers. And an assortment of cloth pads and other miscellany.

As he began disassembling the rifle, the Exo let his thoughts return to Halily. He looked forward to delivering the news to her, but worried about the possibility of a false sense of recovery. While the failed mission and losing her friends had been the breaking point, the Awoken woman’s trouble ran much deeper and went back for a much longer time.

He remembered witnessing her pain.

—————

_ “Ace, we are needed somewhere,” Mal suddenly announced. _

_ The two of them were in the alley behind the broadcast control building. The Hunter had successfully scrounged a network security module from one of the terminals inside. He was currently tying to figure out the best route back to the Wall to avoid detection when the Ghost suddenly gave its cryptic announcement.” _

_ “What?” _

_ “I’ll explain on the way. You’re needed.” A marker appeared in Ace’s visor. Trusting his Ghost, the Hunter quickly began moving. As he jogged, Mal continued, “There’s a Guardian in the building ahead. She’s... not well. Her Ghost is afraid.” _

_ Ace didn’t need to hear any more and began running. He paused at dangerous street crossings, where he could be exposed to Cabal discovery, only long enough to make sure it was clear. _

_ They were a couple blocks away when Mal advised, “Her Ghost says that she left the apartment and is going up to the roof.” _

_ The Hunter silently cursed the Cabal for the hundredth time that day. If he had his Light, he could have quickly and easily scaled the side of the building; Boosting his way from one ledge to another. If he had his Light, then that would mean the Traveler wouldn’t be tethered and no one would even be in this damned situation. Ace rushed through the front door and, following the updated waypoint, straight to the stairwell door. _

_ There were many times since being Reborn that Ace lamented having an Exomind body. He was jealous of the myriad of experiences that his robotic body denied him. But there were benefits that often outweighed the drawbacks. As he sprinted up the first two flight of stairs, his mind tried to tell him that his legs were tired from all of the running he had already done. Ace ignored the impulse and forced his body to continue. _

_Exominds were weapons. He didn’t know what battle they were engineered to fight, what war he had been resurrected from, but the fact remained that he was engineered. The collection of nano fibers and servos that comprised his musculature were incapable of exhaustion as long as his body had power. Fatigue existed only in his mind. So it was that Ace was able to continue sprinting up each flight of stairs._

_“Ace, her Ghost says that she is close to breaking,” Mal’s quiet voice came to him the same moment that he turned the final corner. An open door awaited at the top of the last flight of stairs._

_The Hunter rushed up the steps and stepped through the doorway. A few meters away, he saw the Titan sitting on top of the balustrade that framed the rooftop. Her helmet rested next to her on the ornamental railing, freeing purple hair to flow with the light breeze. He could see her clutching something to her chest, as if it was the most precious thing in the whole world._

_Walking slowly, quietly, Ace unclasped and removed his own helmet. He could hear the poignancy in the woman’s voice as she cried, “You shouldn’t have chosen me. How many times did I ask you to stop reviving me? You chose wrong.”_

_The statement broke down into sobbing. Unsure of how to act, Ace finished approaching quietly and decided to let the woman’s grief play out. Perhaps he would not need to act. He silently stood close by._

_ After several minutes of body-wracking convulsions, the sobs became a sniffle and then the woman looked back up to her Ghost, “I’m sorry, Kaci. I’m not the Guardian you wanted me to be. I’m not able to be the Guardian you thought I could be.” _

_“You have never disappointed me,” Kaci quietly replied, “I know I chose correctly.”_

_ “How?” she snapped. For a brief instant rage overwhelmed the suffering in her voice. “How can you say that when they are all dead because of me?” _

_ The Ghost performed an equivalent of a shrug with its spherical shell before answering, “You don’t give yourself enough credit. They saved you bec-” _

_ “They shouldn’t have!” the Titan shouted. As she swiftly rose to her feet, Ace almost leapt forward, ready to snatch the ornamental Mark that hung at her hip. But she stopped with the toes of her boots dangerously out over the edge, and looked the ghost in the eye. Ace froze, arm still raised and ready to act in the next heartbeat. The woman hissed, “They should have saved themselves just like you shouldn’t have ever revived me! Paris... Garick...” _

_ The Titan slowly began raising the hand cannon that she had been clutching. Ace sensed that her grief was still playing out and something inside the woman had broken. He leaned forward and placed his hand on her wrist. _

_“Don’t.”_

_It was all he could think to say in that moment. He hoped with all his might that one single word would be enough._

—————

Ace was pleased beyond measure that they she had willingly come down from that rooftop. If Halily was capable of stepping away from the ledge in that terrible moment, then he knew that he could do the same with the proverbial ledge that he saw looming in his own path.

Before he realized it, the Exo had completely disassembled the scout rifle. He shook his head, amused at how he was often able to let part of his mind take over some tasks subconsciously whilst his consciousness was able to focus on other things. It was similar to his ability to achieve a kind of sleep; in a trance state, while part of his mind was able to remain alert enough to react to danger. For the first time, Ace became curious if other Exominds were capable of the trick. He never felt the need to discuss the mystery of Exomind existence with any of his fellows.

Ace filed the thought away for later consideration as he began to at attention to the task of cleaning. He couldn’t let his mind run on autopilot for this; he needed to actively inspect the minute details of his weapon’s components so that he could ensure a proper and thorough completion.

It was almost a full hour later when Mal materialized in the room with the Hunter. Ace had reassembled the Nameless Midnight and was partway through the cleaning of his Seventh Seraph shotgun. “I have the updated nav operating system,” the Ghost announced.

Looking up from the disassembled shotgun, Ace responded, “Well done. Do you think it will work?”

With only a slight twitch of its shell, Mal answered, “I do. Identifying that security check was the key we needed. While it is tragic that Guardians were lost, it is good that Halily and Kaci survived to report their failure. Knowing that their modified code was insufficient made us dig deeper.”

“True, but do you think that  _ this _ version will be sufficient?” Ace pressed. “Do you think that there could be an even deeper layer of security?”

“I do not,” Mal replied definitively. “Nutbar was not the only one looking for flaws in Espie’s script.”

Ace trusted his Ghost. And he trusted that Kaci would have been even more thorough than anyone else working on the updated code. If the Ghosts believed that it would work this time, he would not doubt it.

“Alright. Then we’re basically ready to go,” Ace quietly stated. He set the heavy receiver down on the table and looked up to the ceiling, through the stone and to the sky above. Gelahn’s frigate, among many others, awaited them there. Now that he had considered the potential consequences of his reckless behavior, the Exo hesitated. He didn’t want to die.

“You don’t sound very ready this time, Ace,” Mal quietly observed.

“This time isn’t like the rest,” the Exo commented. “We need to succeed.”

Ace sensed that Mal could tell that he wasn’t telling the whole truth, but the Ghost didn’t comment. Instead, Mal merely gave a nod of agreement, “A lot rides on the success of this mission. We cannot allow Thumos to receive any reinforcements.”

The Hunter nodded and returned this attention to the shotgun. Mike was right. A perfectly tuned weapon could mean the difference between life and death up there.

—————

Halily blinked the sleep from her eyes as she roused from the unexpected nap. She hadn’t meant to go to sleep, but fatigue struck as soon as she returned from her trip outside. The Titan had followed through on her promise to relax her mind and took a walk in the forest immediately outside. As she strolled along the path, the Awoken observed that she wasn’t the only Guardian in need of a moment away from the tense atmosphere of planning and preparation inside the base.

The Titan spotted a Warlock sitting atop a large boulder, helmet resting on the rock surface next to him, staring up at the sky. A towering wave of dark clouds surged up the western horizon, heavy and low. The Warlock’s Ghost, hovering in the air above the helmet, commented on the incoming weather to her Guardian, but received no response. The Warlock merely took a deep breath and continued to watch the column in the sky grow.

Halily continued along the trail, leaving the Warlock behind. A couple minutes later, she spotted a pair of Hunters standing atop a small rise, a couple dozen meters off the path. They appeared to be looking down slope toward a small stream that carried rain and melt water away from the hillside. One of them spoke softly to the other, too quiet for Halily to hear anything from where she walked, but the comment made the second Hunter turn toward the speaker and then lean in to give her a kiss on the cheek. As she pulled away, she took out her Hunter knife and offered it to the other. Her companion quickly accepted the blade and, fumbling slightly, handed over her own. Halily smiled at the second Hunter’s laugh as she slid her companion’s into her sheath and then the two turned back to watch the water flow.

The Titan tried to walk quietly, not wanting to disturb or intrude upon this moment. She wondered if Paris and Garick had shared such a moment the day before the team went on their sabotage mission. The two were fairly private individuals when it came to their personal lives, but the love that they shared wasn’t a secret. Halily liked to believe that they had.

Deciding to get a better view of the growing clouds, she veered off of the path and began climbing up the slope. The hillside wasn’t very steep, nor was the hill itself very tall. As she passed through a grouping of ferns, Halily decided to remove her helmet and taste the fresh forest air. She noticed that the birds were growing quiet as the wind began to pick up. The gathering clouds were the signs of an incoming storm.

It only took a few minutes for the Awoken to reach the top of the hill. A copse of trees gathered at the crown attempted to shelter Halily from the wind, but they were spread too far apart to be effective. Besides, she wanted to take a moment and relish in the experience of the weather upon her face. A sensation that she suddenly realized that she had not taken the time to enjoy in years. One sensation among hundreds. When had she stopped taking pleasure in things like letting the wind play with her hair? How had she gone for so long without allowing the first few drops of rain fall on her face?

Halily sat down on the soft earth and closed her eyes as a handful of drops of water splashed against her cheek and nose. When she opened them again, she noticed the dark purple of her hair waving all about and smiled again. No Guardian remembered their childhood, but Halily imagined that she was reliving a childhood moment; braving the first few minutes of the incoming storm.

“When we get through this,” Halily whispered to herself, “I’m going to make sure to do this more often.” The Titan allowed herself a moment of self-satisfaction for saying “when” instead of “if”.

After a few minutes of light rain, almost mist on the wind, the Awoken decided to return. As enjoyable as it was to take a carefree moment to experience the weather, she did have to consider her health. Kaci was no longer able to eliminate illnesses through reconstruction. A common cold could ground her; prevent her from participating in the next day’s efforts.

As she passed the rise where the two Hunters has stood, Halily noticed that they had disappeared. They had likely returned to the cave and resumed preparation efforts for whichever mission that they had been assigned. The Warlock, however, was still atop the large rock. Rather, he was climbing down from his former position as a Titan stood nearby. Halily recognized Mike’s voice as she approached.

“...back out here afterward. Once I see that your Sparrow is mission ready, you’re free to return to your meditation.” Mike’s tone was firm, but not harsh.

“My Ghost-” the Warlock began.

“Can make mistakes,” Mike interrupted. Again, firm without being harsh. “They are used to being able to deconstruct and reconstruct things at will. They’ve made mistakes since we lost our Light and I don’t want to lose you. Just head to your Sparrow and run a thorough diagnostic. If it checks out, great. If not, come find me.”

The Warlock nodded and began trotting back in the direction of the cave’s entrance. Mike turned from the Warlock to the approaching Halily and offered a friendly wave.

Halily returned it and then asked, “Do I need to do anything with my Sparrow? I mean, Ace gave me one of his, so I’m not sure what kind of maintenance it might need.”

Mike chuckled and gave a dismissive wave of the hand, “If you have one of his machines, I know you’re fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s good to hear,” she replied. “Then is there anything I should be helping out with?”

Mike eyed her in response for a second before answering, “Just get some rest. Ace will need you to watch his back up there. He’ll be so focused on keeping you out of danger that he’ll step into a trap himself.”

Halily smiled, “I was just about to go do that.”

And so it was that Halily found herself waking up from an impromptu nap after returning to her room from the hike. As she put her feet on the floor, Kaci appeared in the air nearby.

“You’re awake,” the Ghost stated cheerily. “I’ll notify Ace and Mal.”

“Let them know that I’m going to get some coffee,” Halily instructed as she opened her door.

Ace stood, casually leaning against the opposite wall, outside her room. The Hunter commented, “Coffee. Good idea. Let’s go have a seat.”


	22. Chapter 22

Halily’s reaction was not what Ace had been expecting. While there had been a momentary expression of relief wash over the Awoken woman’s face, it was immediately replaced with one of sadness. The Hunter wondered if he had somehow done a tactless job of delivering the news or had simply erred in telling her the truth at all.

Confusion was plain to hear in his voice as the Exo commented, “I thought this would make you feel better. You seem like it’s bad news.”

“I feel bad for Kaci now,” the Titan explained. “She helped create that first hack. Do you think Ghosts can feel guilt?”

Ace sat back in his chair and looked up to the stone ceiling above. “I’m sure that they can,” he answered. “I’ve witnessed Mal’s capacity for spite towards the Fallen. And I’ve seen Ghosts lose their Guardians to invaders like the Cabal. Their grief was as deep as anyone else’s. I believe that Mal genuinely loves and cares for me. It may be a machine,” Ace paused to gesture toward his robotic, Exomind face, “but so am I. So, yeah, I think every Ghost is capable of feeling guilty.”

Halily lowered her eyes to look at her hands, bare and cupped together, resting on the table. Her purple eyes glistened slightly as she quietly replied, “I wonder if I ever made her feel guilty when I accused her of making a mistake when she chose me? Does she feel even worse now after everything I put her through the other day, now that we know the flaw was in the code?”

Ace reached out and put a hand on top of hers. The Awoken woman quickly looked up and her eyes met his. Micro sensors registered the warmth of her hands as he gave a reassuring squeeze. He noticed that her hands were soft, despite her many years of battle as a Guardian. “Don’t dwell on that. If anything, doing so would only serve to make it even worse for your Ghost. When this is over, the both of you can work together to get through the aftermath of it all. I know that Mal and I will be spending time working things out.”

The Awoken woman smiled and nodded. She slowly withdrew her hands and Ace brought his own back to his side of the table. A moment later, as she took a drink from her cup, a thought occurred to her. “Do you think that the Ghosts could just ‘fix’ us, if we could free the Traveler?” Halily suddenly asked.

Ace sat up straight and crossed his arms as he seriously considered the idea. He could only detect simple curiosity in the Titan’s tone, but he didn’t like the question. Finally, the Hunter answered, “I don’t know  _ if _ they could, but I do know that I wouldn’t want Mal to do it. What would be taken away from me to make that happen? No. I know it’s the more difficult road, but I will be better off in the long run if I see it through.”

Her eyes drifted to the side, looking through the wall behind him, as Halily absorbed Ace’s answer. He could see her considering his response as brief flashes of disappointment and agreement played across her expressive face. The Exo suppressed a smile as he thought about what a terrible poker player the woman must be. He could see that she was tempted by the idea of an easy fix for a complicated problem, but she agreed with Ace’s logic that the price would likely not be worth the expedient.

Eventually, Halily commented, “I need to make sure to have Kaci remind me to watch the storm the next time we have a chance.”

Ace let his smile play out this time.

—————

The Exo spent the next several minutes describing some of the more fantastic storms he had witnessed. Lightning on Venus that had destroyed a Skiff. A tornado on Earth that had tore through a small Hive nest and grounded a Tomb Ship. Each story story was more amazing than the last as he described a handful of events. The Titan held in a chuckle as she wondered what a Stormcaller Warlock would think of his stories.

“I just like to watch the rain wash over everything in sight,” Halily finally commented. “If there’s lightning to watch, all the better, but if I can just get a good vantage point to see the leading edge of a heavy rain crawl across the land, that makes me happy.”

The Exo relented and then asked, “Why the sudden interest in storms?”

“Heavy rain clouds are coming in from the west,” Halily answered.

The plates that formed the chassis around the Exo’s eyes shifted. Halily was given the impression of a furrowed brow as the Exo considered the news. Finally, he lifted a hand and summoned his Ghost.

“What is it?” Mal asked as he materialized.

“Weather. Is it going to screw up our plans?” Ace quickly fired back.

“Access to weather satellites is nonexistent from here, even with the improved communications array,” Mal reluctantly answered. “It might be possible to get data from the Farm. Hawthorne has patched into multiple arrays across the area that might be able to reach the satellite network.”

With a quick shake of her head, Halily suddenly cut in, “Why worry about communicating from here? Our ships are in orbit. Let’s just go up there and patch in directly.”

“Go up where?” a voice called from the cafeteria entrance. Halily turned to see Samus stride into the room. The Human offered a friendly nod to a pair of female Hunters sitting at another table as he approached. “What kind of insane stunt is he planning this time?” Samus asked Halily as he sat between her and Ace.

“I’m sitting right here,” Ace complained. “You can ask me.”

“I know better,” Samus quipped over his shoulder before turning back to Halily. “So, what is he up to?”

“He’s concerned about the weather. I saw a storm brewing in the West,” the Titan explained. “We already had a bit of rain coming in a while ago, but the clouds I saw were pretty massive.”

Samus shot a concerned look at Ace. “Will that cause a problem for you?”

“Quite the contrary,” Ace replied. “It may actually work in our favor. Gelahn’s frigate will move up above the storm, isolating the crew and any ships being refueled. Assuming that the weather turns out to be bad enough.”

Halily could see Samus making mental calculations as his eyes flicked from side to side. A moment later he commented, “Weather won’t interfere with our Sparrows, but visibility could be a big concern.”

“Wouldn’t it work both ways?” the Titan mused, thinking about how the Cabal base defenders would have difficulty identifying Sparrow riders and attacking Guardians in a heavy rain.

Samus conceded the point with a nod before countering, “I still think that people are going to be at risk of crashing if visibility is too poor. However, it would be good to have our enemies slow to react if the weather hampers their ability to respond.” Samus turned once again to Ace and asked, “Can you get the data for us?”

“I’ll do it,” Halily volunteered before the Exo could respond. Ace had already done so much to prepare for their mission that the Awoken was anxious for an opportunity to contribute. She knew that the Hunter didn’t begrudge her the time that she had spent recuperating while he worked on preparations, the Titan still wanted to participate in some way.

“Pay close attention to your HUD,” Ace cautioned. “They’re going to be watching their scopes for our ships. If you see any Cabal in the area, get the hell out.”

Halily gave a nod as she stood up. “No time like the present. How long before we need to leave for our op, Ace?”

Mal answered, “We have several hours. It is now the morning of the day before the attack on Thumos. We will be infiltrating Gelahn’s air field tonight.”

The Titan nodded as she reached down for her half finished protein bar and coffee. After a quick swallow of her drink Halily called out into the air above her head, “Kaci, power up the Stellar Pavements and get her transmat ready.”

Ace raised his cup in a silent toast and Samus gave a Hunter salute; two-fingers tapped near the temple. Halily raised her fist in a Titan salute in response before turning about and striding out of the cafeteria.

Kaci unfolded in the air in front of her as Halily stepped into the hallway. The little Ghost spun about to bob in the air as she followed the Titan back to their room. As they passed through the threshold, she commented, “The ship is ready. You really want to go up right away?”

The Titan shrugged as she slid her hand into a gauntlet and fastened the seal. “What else am I going to do? I’ve already got all the sleep I’m going to get for a while. The sooner we have the data, the sooner everyone can make adjustments to their plans.”

“Assuming that they’ll need to,” Kaci commented. The Ghost tapped the protein bar as Halily reached for the helmet. The Titan sighed and grabbed the ration instead.

Mumbling through a full mouth, she replied, “It’s something to do and it makes me feel useful. Help me with the helmet.”

With a twitch of her spherical shell, Kaci transmatted the helmet into place. Then she performed a quick scan before announcing, “All seals good. You’re ready for transmat.”

“Let’s go.”

A heartbeat later, Halily found herself sitting in the cockpit of her ship. Biting cold from being powered down in orbit began to seep through her armor. Fortunately, her suit included temperature control along with environmental seals. The same system that powered her energy shield in battle was also capable of regulating heat. As soon as the temperature of her armor began to drop, the regulator activated.

“Scopes are clear,” Kaci announced as Halily reached for the throttle and flight stick.

“What’s the range of a Cabal frigate’s sensor?” the Titan asked as she looked out the thick plexiglass window, to the curve of the Earth create a horizon. She cautiously scanned the sky below her as if she expected a gunship or a carrier to come screaming up at her.

“If they know exactly where to look and are actively focused in that direction, farther than we’ve been able to ascertain,” the Ghost answered. “But if they’re just doing regular sweeps, they have the same range as we do.”

“Great. If we spot them, then they’ve likely spotted us,” Halily muttered.

“We need to access the satellite network so there’s no need to drop below orbit and increase our chances of being spotted,” the Ghost replied. “We’ll be fine as long as we stay away from the usual traffic lanes between the fleet and the City.”

“The fleet  is _in_ the City,” the Titan countered.

“Some of it,” the Ghost responded. “There are multiple groups in the system. For example, one group is escorting the Almighty.”

“Point taken. So, we need a satellite that is away from the City. Preferably not near Gelahn’s air strip, either. Let’s head north.” As she spoke, Halily pushed in the flight stick and eased the throttle forward. The Earth below began to rotate as the nose of her Stellar Pavements turned north.

“I can get faint signals from the network,” Kaci declared a moment later. “Continue on this heading and we should be able to connect with a satellite soon.”

“What’s it look like out there?” Halily suddenly asked. She had been trying to look down to Earth, but was unable to see much because of her ship’s orientation. The Awoken was tempted to invert her orientation, but having the planet overhead was disorienting for her. Whatever she had been in her previous life, Halily was certain that it had not been a space pilot. She was far too rooted in two dimensional spatial reasoning for her to have been comfortable with the three dimensional understanding required for extensive piloting in space. She required gravity and a visual horizon.

“It’s as I said, the scopes are clear,” Kaci misunderstood the question.

“I mean the weather. How does it actually look down there? Visually?”

Kaci disappeared for a moment, transporting herself outside the cockpit, before returning. “The sky is quite overcast for miles in the direction of Gelahn’s airfield. Definitely looks like gathered cumulonimbus. North may be clear as it looks like the weather is traveling southeast.”

Ace had sounded pleased by the prospect of a heavy storm in the area. Separating the Bracus from his resources on the ground definitely sounded like a boon for their effort. But would such a storm be too dangerous to travel through, for whatever Ace had planned?

Halily had her focus evenly divided between the horizon in front of the ship and the radar display in her display. She was ready to activate her afterburners at a moment’s notice, should a Cabal ship appear. Her eye glanced to the fuel supply indicator, noting that she didn’t have much in reserve. Enough for a couple jumps, but that was it.

Fortunately, the radar remained clear as the ship flew through the emptiness of Earth’s exosphere. After a couple minutes of quiet, the Titan finally glanced over to her Ghost and commented, “You know, it would be nice to have some idea as to how far you need me to take us in order to reach an access point.”

Kaci twitched with embarrassment before replying, “I’m sorry. It’s hard to judge from simple signal connection strength, but I could calculate an estimated position based on last known good data. Hopefully the nearest one is still intact.”

“The Cabal destroyed our weather satellites?”

The Ghost gave her equivalent of a shrug with her shell as she answered, “It’s possible. They probably don’t know what the satellites really are. After all, they were able to avoid detection by the Vanguard somehow. Destroying our network seems like a prudent stratagem for an invader.”

Halily gave an involuntary shake of her head; she didn’t like to think of the Cabal as clever strategists. She didn’t want to give them any kind of credit. However, the truth of the matter was that their fleet had been able to surprise all of the Last City. The Titan turned her attention back to her equipment, distracting herself from the unpleasant line of thinking.

Several minutes later, Kaci announced, “It’s not here. We are very close to where we should have intercepted it. However, signal strength has improved.”

“If we are detecting something, then that means not  _ all _ of our equipment has been destroyed,” Halily replied, trying to sound somewhat cheerful.

“At our current pace, we can intercept the next one in one point six zero hours. We could increase speed to reduce that.”

Shaking her head, the Titan answered, “Lower power means less likely to get detected. Besides, we have time to kill. Better to spend it doing something like this, rather than letting my nerves drive me crazy while I sit around. Put on some music if you’re bored.”

“Are you bored?”

“Shut up and just play some music.”


End file.
